Wake me up when I'm on the throw to paradise
by youngheartsrunfree
Summary: Allison's cousin comes to Beacon Hills for her aunt's funeral. Emeline unfortunately knows all about werewolves and really doesn't want anything to do with hunting. She does, however, want something to do with Isaac Lahey, but if she can't have him, she'll settle for Jackson Whittemore. Welcome to Beacon Hills, Emma. (set during season 2) Jackson/OC/Isaac
1. the funeral

_I'm coming up only to hold you under and coming up only to show you wrong.  
And to know you is hard; we wonder. To know you all wrong; we warn._

I stared out of the back window, not paying attention at all to what my mom was saying from the front seat about how lovely Beacon Hills was. I didn't need her to lie to me about our new home. I didn't need to move to Beacon Hills. I stared at the dreary looking town as we drove through it on our way to our new house. Mom squealed excitedly from the passenger seat as my dad parked our car in a driveway at the end of a cul-de-sac. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics and slid out of the backseat.

My dad smiled at me and winked and got out of the car. He stepped forward and hugged his brother, my uncle, quickly before moving on to kiss my aunt on the cheek. My mom greeted them similarly while I watched silently from the side of the car. A few moments later my best friend, my cousin Allison, came running from inside the house and launched herself at me.

For the first time in a week, I laughed and hugged her back.

"I just knew being around each other would make them happier." My mom gushed to my aunt Victoria.

"She's been treating me like a child." I whispered to Allison as we each grabbed one of my bags and walked inside. Allison only rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement. We walked up the stairs quickly and into my new room, the one right next to Allison's.

I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Allison fell down beside me and let out a huge breath.

"This wasn't her room, was it?" I asked after a few short moments of silence.

"No, your parents offered to take that one. They said it'd be harder for you to stay in her room." Allison explained.

I sighed and sat up. Allison sat up, raising an eyebrow at me in confusion.

"How?" I asked her.

Allison gulped and looked down at her hands, obviously trying to find a way to lie to me about the exact way in which our aunt died. I rolled my eyes and slid closer to my cousin.

"I know about the family secret, Al, you don't have to lie to me." she glanced up quickly and frowned in confusion and then nodded.

"The alpha, Peter Hale, he-uh he killed her." I nodded and pulled my legs up to my chest, hugging them closer to my body. "You should know something, though." I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Kate, she killed an entire family six years ago. She caused the fire in the Peter Hale's house, killing innocent humans and children. She broke the code."

I stood from the bed and kept my back to Allison. I glanced around the room, admiring the size of the closet. I turned back to her and frowned.

"She was still our aunt, Allison. She may have been sick and homicidal, but she was our family." I crossed my arms over my torso. "The media is going to be crazy, aren't they?" I asked. Allison only nodded.

"Psst, Emma, wake up." I sat up in my bed and saw Allison standing at the foot of my bed. I raised an eyebrow at her, hoping that she had a good reason for waking me up in the middle of the night the day before my first day of school.

"Come with me, we're going to look for Lydia." I sighed and got out of my bed, quickly getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater, throwing on my favorite black leather jacket on top and grabbing a red beanie.

The first night I got to Beacon Hills, Allison told me all about everything that had happened when she moved there. She told me about Scott and how he was a werewolf. She told me about Lydia, her good friend, and how she'd been bitten and about Lydia's ex-boyfriend, Jackson. She told me about Scott's best friend Stiles, who always seemed to be involved even though he was only a human. And most importantly, Allison told me about Derek Hale, the new pack alpha and how his entire family had been killed in the fire or by his uncle.

Apparently, Lydia had disappeared from the hospital and Allison and I were going to walk through the woods alone and look for her.

When we got to the hospital Allison recognized a large Jeep that was starting to pull out of a parking spot near the entrance. She quickly ran over to it, with me hot on her trail. We stepped in front of the headlights and stared in at two boys.

Allison stepped over to the passenger window while I crossed my arms and followed her.

"What are you doing here? Someone's going to see us." The boy in the passenger seat whispered to my cousin, glancing over her shoulder at me.

"I don't care, she is my best friend and we need to find her before they do." Allison replied to both of the boys.

"I can find her before the cops can." The boy, Scott, replied.

"How about before my father does?" Allison asked.

"He knows?" the other boy, Stiles asked.

"Yeah, we just saw him and three other guys leave the house in two SUVs." I replied. They glanced over Allison's shoulder at me and I merely smiled and wiggled my fingers at them.

"Search party." Scott said as he glanced over at Stiles.

"It's more like a hunting party." I replied.

"Get in." Scott told us as he opened the door. Allison and I both gracefully climbed into the back of the Jeep.

I held my hand out to the two of them and smirked.

"I'm Emma Argent, Allison's cousin. It's nice to meet you, Scott and Stiles." I nodded to the boy with the dark hair first and then the one with the buzzed cut next.

"Nice to meet you too, it would've been better had the circumstance not been so weird." Stiles replied as he put the Jeep back into reverse and back out of the parking spot.

"Alright, but if she's turning will they actually kill her?" Stiles asked as he drove down the street.

"I don't know, they won't tell me anything, okay? All they say is that we'll talk after Kate's funeral when the others get here." She explained. I raised an eyebrow and frowned in confusion, trying to remember who the others could be.

"What others?" Stiles asked.

"They won't tell us that either." I told him before Allison could say anything. I glanced over her body towards the passenger seat where Scott had his head stuck out of the window, trying to figure out where exactly Lydia ran off to.

"Okay you're family's got some serious communication issues to work on." I snorted. "Scott, are we going the right way?" Stiles yelled out to him.

Scott moved his head around, trying to follow Lydia's scent.

"Take the next right." He yelled back.

Stiles took a sharp right. I gripped onto the headrest of his seat to avoid falling over and shook my head at the insanity I was already involved in so soon after moving to Beacon Hills.

After driving for a few more minutes we had to ditch the Jeep and continue on foot. We followed Scott through the forest until we arrived at a decrepit looking house. I frowned and stood back as Stiles stepped forward. He turned to look his shoulder at Scott with a confused expression.

"You're sure?" he asked.

Scott nodded as he and Allison stood together, looking forward at the house.

"This is where the scent leads." He replied. Stiles made to reply and then only turned back to the house and began walking forward. I followed slowly, looking around at the forest surrounding the house.

"Alright, but has Lydia ever been here?" Stiles asked.

I shrugged; I had no idea what Lydia had or hadn't done. I'd only been in town for two days.

"Not with me." Allison replied. Scott shrugged, he obviously didn't know either.

"Um, does anyone want to explain to me where we are?" I asked as we walked closer to the house.

"This is the Hale house. Derek lives here." Scott explained.

So that was extremely creepy. The alpha of a pack of a whopping two members lived in an old burned down house. A house that, my newly deceased aunt burned down. I frowned and hugged my torso, suddenly not really wanting to be out in the woods with my cousin and two almost complete strangers searching for another almost stranger.

Stiles walked ahead and I followed him, not really wanting to be with Scott and Allison when they were together. I was completely aware of their activities earlier that night.

"I'm sure we'll find her." I told Stiles as I walked beside him. He glanced over at me and lifted the side of his mouth only a little, in an attempt to thank me.

Stiles circled back, going around behind Allison and Scott as they discussed the strength in numbers in a pack. I leaned up against a tree, waiting for our next move.

Stiles messed around on the ground and uncovered some leaves.

"Whoa, hey look at this." Allison and I both stepped over and crouched near the ground to see what he was looking at. "Do you see this? I think it's a trip wire." I nodded and leaned closer, making sure not to get too close to it just in case it was tripped.

Stiles, however, was clearly not think the same thing as he pulled the wire. I frowned and looked around me, trying to find if anything had happened.

"Stiles?" Scott asked.

"Yeah buddy?" Stiles replied. The three of turned to look over our shoulders at Scott and only found him with a wire around his ankle, hanging from a tree.

"Next time you see a trip wire." Scott told him. "Don't trip it." I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest, stepping closer with Allison and Stiles to try and release Scott.

"Noted." Stiles replied.

"Wait, wait, wait." Scott held out his hands. The three of us stopped immediately. "Someone's coming, hide." We glanced around, trying to see for ourselves if anyone was coming. "Go!" Scott whispered urgently.

We stepped away from him and ran to hide behind a tree. We peaked around and watched as Chris walked towards Scott with a few other hunters following behind him.

I was too busy trying not to be seen to listen to my uncle threaten, Scott. After he walked away, we waited patiently to make sure he was completely out of eyesight before walking over to Scott.

"You okay?" Allison asked as we ran up to him.

Scott shrugged.

"Just another life threatening conversation with your father."

"Stiles, help me with this." Allison and Stiles walked over to the tree to try and release Scott from the wire. I stood next to him and smirked as his finger nails lengthened into claws and he cut himself free. He flipped down and stood next to me, watching while Allison and Stiles attempted to figure out the trip wire.

"Thanks," Allison and Stiles glanced over at us. "But I think I got it." He smiled.

They laughed and looked at each other. Scott and I stepped towards the house. He turned to look over his shoulder at them and nodded towards the house.

"Coming?" he asked. The two of us turned back to the house and began walking as Stiles and Allison followed after us.

I sat on the counter in the kitchen the next morning and watched silently as my uncle and father discussed something important in the dining room. They were whispering, so I had no idea what exactly they were saying, but by the glances they kept shooting towards Allison, who was sitting next to me talking to her mom, I knew they must've been talking about her.

If I could guess I'd think that my dad and Uncle Chris were discussing Scott and what his relationship with Allison meant. Dad and Chris wouldn't kill him, they both abided by the code in full and would never break it, but the same couldn't be sad for the rest of the family. I'd heard my mom and aunt whispering quietly about Gerard coming to town. From what I heard, my grandfather was in no way as merciful as my dad or uncle, especially when Kate was involved.

"Oh my, Emeline, you have gotten so beautiful." I glanced up and smiled bashfully at my great aunt, Claudette. "Oh and you Allison, both such beauties." She smiled brightly at the two of us and then continued on into the kitchen to speak with our mothers.

Allison and I looked at each and tightened our lips, trying not to laugh. Ever since we were little kids we'd hated Aunt Claudette. She was always so girly and frilly and the two of us never really got into any of that, not with our fathers practically forcing us to be involved in just about every archery competition possible.

"I don't think it matters how many times I correct her, she'll never call me Emma like everyone else does." I shook my head.

"Allison, Emma, it's time for school." My mom came up to the counter and smiled. We both nodded and hopped off of the counter.

I didn't understand why my first day had to be the same day of my aunt's funeral, but my parents thought that as soon as I started going to school, the better.

Allison and I climbed out of the car and walked through the parking lot towards the front of the school. I looked around and noticed a bunch of people staring at me, probably wondering who the weird new girl with the crazy aunt was walking in with. I watched a boy park his Porsche in one of the front parking spots and speak briefly with a homeless man. I smirked and shook my hand, continuing into the school.

Allison left me at the office with a promise to find me again before lunch so that we could eat together. I nodded and then stepped into the small office and up to the front desk. The secretary behind the desk smiled warmly at me.

"You must be Emeline Argent." She smiled. I nodded as she reached over and grabbed a folder from the desk.

She went through it, inspecting the different papers and finally pulled out a smaller piece of paper with my schedule on it and a different paper with a map of the school. She grabbed a highlighter from the desk top and began marking each of the classrooms that my classes were held in and then passed the map and schedule over to me.

"Each class is highlighted except for your free period and your study hall. Free period you can go anywhere in the school you'd like or outside, but not off campus. Study hall is usually held in the library, but if for any reason your class changes, you'll be notified." I nodded. "Welcome to Beacon Hills, Emeline." I smiled and grabbed the papers, turning to walk out of the office. "Oh and I'm so sorry about your aunt!" I halted and turned to smile over my shoulder in thanks and then left the office as quickly as possible.

I walked down the hallway and looked down at the map, glancing up to try and figure out where I was supposed to go. The hallway was practically deserted. The bell had rung a few minutes before I even got into the office so first period was in full swing by then. I turned around a corner and just barely managed to step out of the way as the guy I saw talking to the hobo earlier came barreling down the hallway. I turned my head and watched as he hurried into the bathroom.

I shrugged and continued down the hallway until I reached Mr. Harris's classroom for Chemistry. I knocked on the door quietly and then stepped in with a bashful smile.

"Oh, you must be Emeline." He hurried over to me and nodded. "I was hoping the office would lead you here in time." He gestured for me to step in.

Mr. Harris inspected the class, looking for an empty lab table to place me in. When he found one he gestured towards it and handed me a test.

"Don't worry if you don't know any of it, I was informed that you have study hall that you can use to get caught up with us." I nodded and started walking towards the lab table where a tan boy was sitting, staring incredulously at the space in front of him. "Oh and Miss Argent," I turned to look over my shoulder. "I'm sorry about your loss." I flinched as every eye in the room turned to stare at me.

I passed Scott, who glanced up at me with a sad smile. I only nodded in reply as I passed Stiles. I sighed and sat down at the table I'd been assigned, frowning in confusion when I saw a test already sitting in front of me with two black spots on the center of the page and the name Jackson Whittemore written at the top.

"Um…"I looked up to ask Mr. Harris about it, but saw that he was busy in the front of the classroom explaining a question to another student.

"That's Jackson's seat usually." I glanced up to the tan boy sitting across from me. "He just went to the restroom, but I guess Mr. Harris already forgot about that." The boy slid the test away from in front of me and over to the other side of the table. "I'm Danny, by the way." He smiled.

"Emma." I replied as I began circling answers on the test, breezing through material I'd already learned at my old school.

When the bell rang I turned in my test, earning an impressed nod from Mr. Harris. I exited the room as quickly as possible, but not quick enough to avoid the whispers of my classmates as they talked about me and how I was related to the psycho who killed all of those people.

I kept my head down as I walked through the hallway and turned a corner, running right into someone, causing my books to drop from my arms. I sighed and bent down immediately to pick them up, apologizing to the person I ran into.

"Oh, no it was totally my fault." He replied as he helped me gather the books. I glanced up and met a pair of captivating blue eyes. I smiled a tiny bit at him, noticing that his right eye was bruised.

"No, it was me. I'm sorry." I stood and smiled. "Thanks." I nodded as he handed me the books I'd dropped.

"I'm Isaac." He introduced himself, smiling shyly at me.

"Emma." I replied with my own shy smile.

The warning bell rang overhead and he cursed softly under his breath.

"I'll see you around." I smiled and stepped around him, avoiding running into him again.

I walked down the hallway towards me class and glanced over my shoulder, smiling back at Isaac when I saw that he was still standing at the end of the hallway watching me.

The day went by semi-smoothly after that. The only hold up being that all of my new classmates couldn't seem to stop staring at me and whispering to each other about how I was probably a crazy murderer as well.

I found Allison after school and the two of us changed into our dresses for the funeral in the bathroom and then walked to the car together, avoiding speaking to anyone.

When we arrived at the cemetery there was already a giant group of people with cameras being held back by police officers. I frowned and shook my head as I climbed out of the car and met my parents and Allison's parents.

Together the six of us pushed through the group of reporters as they shouted questions at us. Allison and I stayed huddle together as my dad held my mother close and Uncle Chris gripped Allison's other arm. Aunt Victoria stayed close to my other side.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Uncle Chris whispered, obviously talking to Aunt Victoria, but not trying to keep Allison and I from hearing him.

"Yeah, well it wasn't my idea." Aunt Victoria replied as she straightened out her coat.

"I tried telling him, but he insisted on making a point out of it." My uncle explained as we walked closer to the chairs and casket set up for the funeral.

"Well if he insisted, then he can deal with this when he gets here." Aunt Victoria gently grabbed my arm, steering Allison and I towards the chairs.

"Who gets here?" Allison asked. She glanced between her parents and then over at me.

Allison's parents made eye contact and then Aunt Victoria gestured towards the chairs.

"Just, sit down, sweetheart." She replied.

Allison and I sat down, huddle close together as the media yelled at our family, still trying to get us to answer questions. I frowned and pushed some of my dark hair away from my face.

My mother and Aunt Victoria both stood suddenly. We glanced over at them in confusion until we saw an older man approach them. He kissed both of them on their cheeks and then turned to gaze at Allison and me. I stared up at him, immediately recognizing who he was from the pictures and the distant memories of my childhood.

"Do you remember me?" he asked, glancing between Allison and me.

We both only nodded in response, not exactly knowing what to say. Allison glanced over her shoulder quickly, causing everyone to look over in that direction. When they were satisfied that they didn't see anyone they looked back to the two of us.

"Considering I haven't seen either of you since you were three, I don't suppose I can assume you'll call me grandpa?" he asked with a tiny smile. We both smiled timidly and looked down. "So if it's comfortable, call me Gerard for the time being, but I'd prefer grandpa."

He smiled and sat down a few seats down so that Uncle Chris and my dad could sit in between us and him. My mom took the seat next to me and Aunt Victoria sat on her other side.

Allison and I glanced over towards a tombstone and saw Scott and Stiles crouched behind it. He waved with a tiny smile. Allison lifted her mouth up into a makeshift smile and then glanced back to the casket.

I reached over and gripped Allison's hand, squeezing it to reassure her that I would be there for her through the entire service. She glanced over and smiled and then rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed and huddled closer to her, just wanting for all of this to be over.

Ever since we were born, Allison and I have been inseparable. She was almost an entire year older than me, but we'd managed to stay in the same grade in school due to the amount of times her family moved. Both of my parents were very much involved with the hunting world, but they managed to stick around San Francisco for the majority of my life. One of them would stay with me at home while the other would travel with a group of other hunters to take care of any situation my Uncle Chris couldn't get to.

Her family met mine in San Francisco and we all lived together like we did in Beacon Hills, until the werewolf situation got a little out of hand up north and her family moved there. I was devastated for the few months I had to live without my best friend and practical sister, but we soon followed them to Beacon Hills. It was easier that way. Our family was stronger when we were all together.

I stared at the casket as everyone around me started to leave. I couldn't make myself step forward and say goodbye to my aunt. She'd been more like an older sister to me and Allison our entire lives and it was unbelievable that she was gone. She'd been there for me through every up and down and all of a sudden I was expected to say goodbye? How was that fair?

I bit my lip as the first tears fell for my aunt. I hadn't let myself cry ever since I found out that she'd died, especially when I found out how. I stepped forward and touched the casket gently, lowering my head.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here." I apologized. "I love you so much, Aunt Kate." I sniffed and wiped at my eyes and then stepped back and turned to leave.

As I was leaving the cemetery I glanced over to see Isaac from school, staring at me. I smiled timidly at him and then was ushered into the car. He smiled back and maneuvered the machine he was sitting in towards the newly dug grave for my aunt.


	2. all shook up

_My hands are shaky and my knees are weak  
I can't seem to stand on my own two feet_

I hummed along to the song playing through the speakers of my dad's black Range Rover and thumped my fingers against the steering wheel. I checked the GPS and made sure I was on the correct street and then flicked the blinker as I turned right onto the street. I stopped abruptly, however, when a boy on a bike came peddling past my car. I frowned in confusion and watched as Isaac, the guy I'd literally run into at school quickly righted himself on the bike, glanced at me with wide eyes, and then continued peddling down the road.

I shook my head and continued down the street and parked in front of a big brick house. I stepped out of the car and turned my head when I heard a man yelling out for Isaac and jumping into his car. He started the car and reversed out of the driveway and then sped up to follow the teenager on the bike.

I shook my head at the craziness of it all and turned to see a shirtless guy standing across the street from Isaac's house with a bag. He put the bag into the trashcan at the end of the street and then turned to go back into his house. Before he went inside, though, he caught me watching him and smirked widely at me.

"You're Allison's cousin, right?" he called out to me. I nodded, slightly confused as to why he was asking. "I'm Jackson, Allison and I are friends, she might've told you about me?" he indirectly asked.

"Oh, yeah, I know who you are." I nodded. This was the guy that had broken Allison's best friend's heart not too long ago. I couldn't help, but understand why exactly Lydia had been so in love with him.

Jackson was gorgeous, a fact that I am sure he was more than aware of. He looked me up and down and seemed to nod his head in a weird way. I frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"What's your name?" he asked after a few tense awkward moments of Jackson staring at me.

"Emma Argent." I replied as I turned away from him and started walking towards the house.

"I'll see you around, Emma Argent!" he yelled out to me as I rang the doorbell of the house. I turned and smirked at him over my shoulders, wiggling my fingers in a sort of wave.

"Thanks for coming over in such a short notice." Megan, a girl in my History class, gushed as she opened the door.

We'd been assigned as partners for a project in the class that was due at the end of the week and we had yet to start working on it. Megan was busy trying to even out the work load and I had just been too busy not doing schoolwork to even worry about it. I hadn't wanted to move to Beacon Hills. If we had done it my way, we would've only been in the small town for my aunt's funeral and then we would've gone back to San Francisco where our lives were at least a little normal.

It didn't seem fair to me or Allison that our dads were now trying to pressure us into this whole family business thing. I didn't have any interest whatsoever in killing werewolves and Allison's freaking boyfriend was one of them. If she killed a werewolf she may as well have broken up with Scott and then stomped on his heart for good measure. He was a nice boy, I didn't want them to break up and if his little furry issue didn't put my cousin in danger, he was fine in my book.

My dad and uncle were uneasy, though. Gerard was still in town and it looked like he wasn't leaving anytime soon. We had to keep the fact that Allison's ex-boyfriend was a werewolf a secret because if he knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill Scott, even though he was underage and hadn't hurt anyone. Gerard seemed to be playing by his own rules lately.

Megan and I worked on the project for a few hours, but I think she could tell I wasn't really focused on the Cold War. Not enough to write a three thousand word paper on it, that's for sure. I stopped at my car, however, when I saw a piece of paper sticking out from under one of the windshield wipers. I grabbed the paper and rolled my eyes when I saw a phone number scribbled on to it as well as winky face and a message to give Jackson a call. I got into my car and turned back to wave at Megan. She waved goodbye to me as I drove away from the house, noticing that Isaac's dad's car was still missing.

When I got home, Allison was just walking outside. I got out of the car and clicked the button to lock the doors as she breathed onto the window. I smirked at the writing on it and shook my head at my cousin as she grinned.

"I'll cover for you. Go have fun." I winked at her and then walked inside.

I closed the front door behind me gently, trying to be as quiet as possible. My parents knew where I'd been, but I was trying to get in without them noticing so I didn't have to lie about where Allison was. She told me to tell them that she checking on Lydia if they asked and that her car ran out of gas on the way home, so she had to fill the tank. I crept past my uncle's study and hurried up the stairs, but just as I reached the landing I heard my name being called.

"Em, have you seen Allison?" I turned to see my aunt standing at the foot of the stairs with a curious expression on her face.

"Oh, she isn't home yet?" I asked. "That's weird, I just got back. She said she was going to go check on Lydia and then be back." I shrugged. "I'll call her, maybe she had car trouble or something?" I smiled and then turned to hurry up the stairs and to my room.

"Emmeline!" I stopped and turned back to my aunt with a curious smile. "If you talk to Allison, tell her be home as soon as possible, you guys have an important day at school tomorrow." She smiled.

"What do you mean, Aunt Victoria?" I asked with a confused frown.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart, just a new administration that should rise Beacon Hills to its upmost potential." She replied a knowing smile as she turned on her heel and headed into the kitchen.

I shook my head at my aunt's weird personality switch and hurried into my room. I went through the regular process of getting ready for bed. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and quickly added Jackson's number to my contacts because with my luck I would lose the piece of paper before I got the nerve to call him. I knew it probably wouldn't the best idea getting on Lydia's bad side so soon into moving to Beacon Hills, but Jackson interested me. He seemed like much more than just the cliché jock and it had always been my girly teenaged dream to change a bad boy into the sweetheart that he really was within. Not to mention I had a soft spot for athletes.

To: Jackson Whittemore.

_Nice move, Jackson. I'll see you at school. Xo_

_-Emma_

I rolled my eyes and turned on my alarm for school the next morning. As I was settling into my bed I heard a bump in Allison's room next door and her whispered curse, so I knew that she was safe in her own bed. I turned over and pressed my face into my pillow, drifting off and dreaming of cute boys in lacrosse jerseys.

I woke up the next morning to a Kesha chart topper blaring from my phone. I groaned and turned over in my bed to silence it and glared at the harsh digital letters flashing before me in the almost pitch black of my room. I sighed and got up to get ready for school. I practically fell out of my bed and then righted myself. I opened my door and saw Allison doing the same from her room. I glanced over at her and then quickly rushed to the bathroom at the same time she did, I just barely beat her to the door and laughed as I practically slammed the door in her face.

"Emma, please don't take forever!" Allison groaned from the other side of the door. "I have to pee!"

"Allison, there are three other bathrooms in this house, go find one." I replied as I began brushing my teeth.

I let Allison into the bathroom a few minutes later after I'd done my own business. She forced herself in and closed the door quickly. She stepped in front of me at the sink and washed her face while I stepped back and brushed through my dark hair. I decided to braid it over my shoulder in a long fishtail and did so while Allison gushed quietly about her midnight rendezvous with Scott the night before.

"Okay, but the full moon is soon. Does he have a plan?" I asked as I finished the braid and tied a hairband around the end of it.

"Stiles is gonna lock him up somewhere, he got a bunch of chains and stuff so it should hold him." She replied quietly. I nodded and left the bathroom to finish getting ready in my room.

I did my make up in front of the floor length mirror. I sat in the floor and brushed on minimal foundation and a layer of liquid eyeliner that was thicker at the edge of my eye and met with the bottom, creating a cat eye kind of wing.

I got dressed quickly. I wore a dress that reached my lower thigh and a denim jacket to wear over it. I tied a belt around my waist and wore a pair of boots that went up to my knee and had a flat bottom. I grabbed my bag and stuffed my notebook and history textbook into it as I rushed out of my room. I met Allison at the bottom of the stairs and together we walked into the kitchen. We each grabbed a banana and a protein shake from the counter and hurried out of the house, shouting a goodbye to whoever would hear.

When we got to school we split up so that Allison could find Lydia. I walked towards where I knew the boy's locker room was and looked for Stiles, hoping I could find him and ask him about his plan to keep Scott locked away safe and sound for the full moon. I followed the noise and the smell to the locker room and watched silently from the doorway as a long chain fell from Stiles' locker. I smirked and shook my head at him.

"Part of me wants to ask, the other part of me says that knowing would be more disturbing than anything I could ever imagine." Coach said as he stepped up next to the locker.

"Kinky, Stiles." He turned over his shoulder and his eyes widened at me standing in the doorway.

All of the boys in the locker room turned to see me standing just outside of the locker room and looked at Stiles and then back to me. I used my index finger to gesture for him to come over to me. He gulped and looked around the locker room and then came towards me. I leaned up on my tippy toes and whispered to him when he got close enough.

"Meet me at my locker after practice. I need to ask you about your plan for the full moon. You're welcome for this, by the way. Now all of the guys on the team aren't going to think you're some weirdo murderer or something." I leaned back and smiled up at him. "Later, babe." I reached up and kissed his cheek and then turned on my heel and sauntered away from the locker room.

I found Allison and Lydia easily enough standing by their lockers and whispering quietly about the entrance they'd just made into school. I waltzed over and smiled gently at the red head in front of me.

"You must be Lydia." I reached my hand out to her. "I'm Emma, Allison's cousin." I smirked at her.

Lydia gazed at me, looking up and down and then nodded in approval. She reached her hand out and shook mine once and then dropped it.

"Anyway, I'm going to lacrosse practice, my free period is early today. Ciao." I blew them each a kiss and then turned on my heel to go outside.

I walked over to the bleachers and took a seat, glancing out to the field and seeing a few players practicing drills. I looked down to the bench and saw Scott and Stiles talking quietly. I shook my head at the two of them and then looked over to see Jackson talking to a guy I'd only ever seen around. Jackson looked up almost sensing that someone was watching him and smirked at me. I raised an eyebrow in an almost challenge and wiggled my fingers at him in the same kind of wave I'd done the night before. He winked and then turned back to head towards the field. The guy he was talking to glanced over his shoulder and frowned in confusion at me and then followed Jackson onto the field.

I crossed my legs and leaned forward watching in amusement as Scott ran out of the goal and tackled a guy. Coach reprimanded him and then it happened all over again.

I shook my head and watched him do it again and again until he tackled someone and then began whispering. Coach threatened him and Scott ran back to the goal. By now I was extremely curious as to what he was up to and stood from my spot, heading down closer to the field to try and see if I could hear anything.

Jackson, who was up next spoke quietly with the coach and then walked over to the bench. I stepped forward and leaned over his shoulder.

"Scared, Jackson?" I asked with a small smirk.

He turned to seem me and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I separated my shoulder not too long ago, I can't risk being hurt again." He responded defensively. I nodded with a smirk and looked back onto the field.

I tensed when I saw Scott and Isaac hit each other and then land on their hands on knees. I stepped forward, almost as if I was going to go out onto the field and do something about the situation, but stopped when I saw police officers headed towards the field.

The officers gathered up Isaac and walked away from the crowd and began talking with him. I made an excuse to Jackson and then hurried over to stand with Scott and Stiles.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly as we watched Isaac talking with the officers.

"His father's dead." Scott explained. "They think he was murdered."

"Wait, are they saying he's a suspect?" Stiles asked.

"I'm not sure, why?" Scott asked.

"Because they can lock him in a holding cell for 24 hours." Stiles explained.

"Like overnight?" Scott asked.

"During the full moon." I nodded and chewed on my lip.

"How good are these holding cells at holding people?" Scott asked after glancing down at me.

"People, good." Stiles told us. "Werewolves, probably not that good."

"Stiles, remember when I said I don't have the urge to maim and kill?" Scott asked.

I looked over towards the officers and waited for Isaac to look over at us. I knew that it would be dangerous around a new wolf on his first full moon, but we had to do everything possible to get him out of the holding cell and to somewhere safe.

"Yes?" Stiles replied.

"He does." Scott told us as Isaac was being led away by the police. He glanced back at the three of us and frowned a little when his eyes met mine. I smiled timidly, trying to show what little comfort I could.

I walked back inside with a frown, trying to think of a plan to get Isaac out of the jail for the full moon. I turned the corner and just managed not to run into someone.

"Emma, you should pay more attention to where you're going, sweetheart." I frowned and glanced up to see my grandfather smiling at me.

"Gerard?" I asked. "Why are you here?" I glanced around, making sure that no one could overhear our conversation.

"Didn't your mother tell you?" he asked, I shook my head. "I'm the new principal." He smiled. "You should head to class now, Emeline, wouldn't want you to be late." He stepped around me and headed towards the office.

I stayed there for a few moments, trying to comprehend that Gerard was the principal. Him being around more often meant that it would be harder for us to get away with talking to Scott and Stiles about anything werewolf. He'd find it weird that his granddaughters were talking to one of their ex-boyfriend's and his best friend.

"Hey, are you going to go to Chemistry or stand there all day?" I snapped out of my mental discussion and saw Jackson smirking down at me. I blinked and shook my head, gripping my books tighter to my chest. "Are you okay?" he asked, stepping closer to me.

"Yeah," I shook my head. "It's just, my grandfather's the new principal." I explained, chewing on my lip a little.

"Well that sucks." I glanced up at him with a confused frown. "That means I can't kiss you in the hallway without being afraid that he'll kill me." he smirked.

"Oh and what makes you so sure you'll be kissing me?" I asked with a smirk.

"Because you want me." he grinned. I rolled my eyes at him. "You know it's true, that's why you're trying so hard to play it cool and act like you're not interested, because you're so interested that it scares you." He stepped closer to me. "I can read you like a book, Em."

Jackson leaned in like he was going to kiss me, and maybe I would've let him had the warning bell not rang overhead.

"I'll see you around, Jackson." I stepped around him with a small bashful smile and began walking towards Chemistry.

"Oh yeah, you want me!" Jackson called down the hallway, causing me to stop and glare playfully over my shoulder and a blush to sweep out across my cheeks. He only grinned and turned on his heel, walking towards the office.


	3. ride

_I hear the birds on the summer breeze, I drive fast, I am alone in the night.  
Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble, but I, I've got a war in my mind.  
I just ride, just ride, I just ride, just ride. _

I walked into the classroom just before the bell rang and smiled sheepishly at Mr. Harris. He only rolled his eyes and nodded towards the lab table in the back. Two stools were placed on one side of the table and Danny was already perched on his usual side. I walked over and sat on top of the stool closer to the front of the classroom.

"Where's Jackson?" I asked quietly, wondering why he had been headed towards the office.

"In the principal's office, talking to the sheriff." I frowned in confusion. "He lives across the street from Isaac." I nodded slowly and then focused on the front of the classroom when Mr. Harris began teaching.

"What are they doing?" I whispered over to Danny. He glanced up and frowned in confusion, so I nodded my head over to the lab table in front of us where Scott and Stiles were whispering not so quietly.

"Probably talking about Isaac's father's death." Danny replied. I sighed and shook my head, going back to my notes.

I glanced up again when Stiles turned around and asked Danny where Jackson was. He told them the same thing he told me, only saying that he was talking Stile's dad instead. Oh, it was nice to know that my new friend's dad was the sheriff, that could come in handy in the future.

Stiles and Scott began whispering about how they had to get to the principal's office. I leaned forward to tell them that wasn't a good idea, but before I could get anything out Mr. Harris began instructing us to turn our books to a specific page.

I winced when a piece of balled paper went flying through the room and hit Mr. Harris on the back of the head. Scott really didn't want to go to the office. I could see the awkward confrontation waiting to happen between him and my grandfather.

"Scott." I whispered harshly. He glanced over his shoulder, but it was too late for me to say anything as he and Stiles hurried out of the room. I groaned and buried my face in my chemistry book.

A few minutes later Jackson came strolling into the classroom. I chewed on my lip and stared at the white sweater that was opened just enough at the top to let my imagination roam wild. He gave Mr. Harris an excuse note for being late to class and then strolled down the aisle towards me and Danny. He nodded to Danny in greeting and grinned widely at me.

I rolled my eyes, continuing the aloof not interested façade and turned my attention back to my textbook. Jackson sat down in the stool next to me and leaned forward just enough that I could smell his cologne, and boy did it smell good.

"What did I miss, babe?" he grinned. I turned to glare at him over my shoulder.

"Don't call me babe, Jackson, I am not your babe." I shook my head and turned back to my book.

"Not yet." He smirked and then leaned back to read from his own book. I turned my head and let my thick hair shield me from Jackson, so that he couldn't see the blush that was growing on my cheeks.

I glanced up through my eyelashes to see Danny smirking at me. I rolled my eyes at him and tried to focus on the lesson Mr. Harris was trying to teach.

When the bell rang I gathered my stuff as quickly as humanly possible and exited the classroom without saying anything to Danny or Jackson. I made my way to my locker easily enough and found only Allison standing at her own locker.

"Where's Lydia?" I asked as I turned in my combination.

"Trying to talk to Jackson." I tensed and nodded, reminding myself that Jackson belonged to Lydia and this whole infatuation flirty thing we had going on needed to stop.

After lunch I stood at my locker, trying desperately to remember which class I had next. Beacon Hills was different from my old school. The classes switched each day and I couldn't keep up with where I had to be and when.

"We have study hall." I turned to glance over my shoulder and rolled my eyes at Jackson as he sauntered down the hallway.

Of course, he'd remember my schedule. How else was he supposed to stalk me in between classes? I sighed and closed my locker, I didn't have any homework to work on yet and I'd done all of my homework for my afternoon classes the night before like a good little book worm. I walked into the library and wasn't surprised to see Jackson sitting at a table by himself with the chair next to his pulled out. He looked up at me and then nodded towards the chair with a smirk. I huffed and stalked over to the table on the other side of the library, raising an eyebrow at him and then turning to see the guy he'd been whispering to that morning staring up at me with a curious expression.

"Trouble in paradise?" he asked with a small smirk as he looked up from the book in front of him.

"I'm proving a point." I responded as I settled into the chair.

"And what's that?" he asked as he dog-eared the page he was reading and set down his book.

"That I don't want him as much as he wants me." I replied while crossing my arms and glancing over to see Jackson watching me closely.

"Are you trying to prove that to him," he asked. "Or to yourself?"

I looked up at him quickly and frowned. He only shrugged and then went back to reading.

"I'm Emma Argent." I told him.

"I know who you are." I raised an eyebrow. "All anyone's been talking about since you got here is how hot you are and how beauty must run in the family." I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Teenagers don't know how to notice anything, but the way someone looks." I replied as I leaned forward and opened my textbook.

"Well it's true." I frowned and glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow instead of asking what he meant. "You and Allison are both insanely beautiful." He smiled.

"What's your name?" I asked him as I leaned forward.

"Matt." He replied.

"Nice to meet you, Matt." I smiled and then went back to reading my book.

"Likewise, Emma." He smirked without looking up from his book.

I went the entire period, whispering quietly with Matt about the books we were reading. He also told me a few times that Jackson hadn't stopped staring at me. I had purposefully sat so that my back was facing the other boy, but Matt could see him clearly. I was trying desperately not to notice the piercing gaze on my back and I almost broke when the bell rang and saved me.

I gathered my things quickly and moved to leave, but was stopped when a hand reached out and gripped my wrist gently. I glanced over my shoulder and smiled shyly at Matt.

"You don't happen to be hanging out with Jackson tonight, do you?" he asked timidly. I frowned and shook my head in confusion. "Good." He replied with a shy smile and stood. I frowned and wanted to ask why, but couldn't as Matt left too quickly.

"Meeting new friends?" I glanced up to see Jackson staring at me with a knowing smirk. I rolled my eyes at him and walked past, leaving the library without giving him a response.

I found Allison easily enough and grabbed her arm, trying to get out of the school as quickly as possible. She frowned in confusion, but allowed me to drag her through the parking lot and to her car. I waited impatiently, tapping my toe against the concrete while Allison dug through her bag, trying to find her keys. I glanced around wildly, keeping a look out for Jackson.

I froze when I saw him step out of the school and immediately zero in on my location next to the car. He smirked and began walking towards us when Allison found her keys. As soon as the doors were unlocked I jumped in and buckled on my seatbelt. Allison got in as well and started the car. Jackson stopped in front of it and turned to face us, grinning at me as Allison reversed out of her spot and began driving the two of us home.

"Do you wanna tell me what that was about?" she asked when we further from the school and I had calmed down significantly.

"Nothing." I shook my head. I glanced over to see her staring at me with a knowing look. "Fine, not nothing, but not something I need to talk about." I replied as I brushed my braided hair over my shoulder.

I heard my phone beep and looked down to see that I had a new message from Stiles. He was asking me to tell him if Allison and I heard anything from our dads or Gerard about what they were going to do with Isaac. I frowned and typed back a message as Allison parked her car in the driveway. I climbed out of the car and kept my attention on my phone while we walked inside and up the stairs to my room.

Allison closed the door loudly, causing me to flinch and look up from my typing.

"Okay, spill." She told me, backing me up so that I was sitting on the bed and climbing over onto the other side.

"Well," I began. "It all started last night."

**With Jackson & Matt. **

Jackson hurried down the stairs and offered the $100 to Matt.

"I'm starting to feel a little weird about this." Matt said, taking a tiny step away from Jackson.

"No, no, no." Jackson shook his head and leaned forward, forcing the money into Matt's pocket. "What you're feeling is $100 richer." He stood up straight, glancing at the camera bag on Matt's shoulder. "Give me the camera and go buy yourself a new lens or a light meter or whatever gives you photography geeks a hard on." Jackson told him.

"This doesn't have anything to do with Emma, does it?" he asked. Jackson raised an eyebrow. "I saw you two at school today and I kind figured that you two were, you know, together." He explained.

"Aw, you have a little thing for Emma, Matt?" he asked. "A little-a little crush?" Matt smiled only briefly.

"No." he responded.

"You think I'm gonna waste my time by doing something as unbelievably ordinary as making a sex tape?" Jackson asked.

"Then what are you doing?" Matt asked.

"Documenting history." Jackson replied tensely. "My history and I want to be able to see it happening. All of it." He took the camera bag from Matt's shoulder and threw it over his own. "You'll get it back tomorrow." He explained as he turned and walked back up the stairs and inside his house.

**With Emma & Allison. **

"So they were talking about Isaac?" I asked as Allison dialed her phone. She nodded, but was distracted by whoever she was calling. I frowned and crossed my arms, instantly worried about the boy I'd only just met.

Allison put the phone on speaker when Stiles answered.

"Hey, sorry Harris literally just let me out of detention. Literally. And he had my phone the whole frickin' time." He explained.

"Well we need to do something right now." Allison explained, pacing in front of the bed where I was perched with the phone sitting next to me. "They were asking me all of these questions about Lydia and how she was bitten by Peter, and then they sent this guy out."

"Wait, what guy?" Stiles asked as I raised an eyebrow, having not heard about the guy either.

"He was dressed as a Sherriff's deputy." Allison explained. I frowned and glanced up at her, knowing instantly where that guy was headed.

"They're sending him to the station for Isaac." Stiles confirmed my thoughts.

"He was also carrying this box with something on it, like um, like a carving or something." Allison told us.

"What was it?" Stiles asked.

"Hold on, hold on." Allison gestured towards me, I grabbed the phone and walked over to her desk. "It's in one of these books."

Allison began turning the pages, trying to find the carving she saw. She stopped turning and pointed to it.

"I'm taking a picture." I told Stiles as I opened the camera on Allison's phone and took a picture of the drawing in the book that Allison had seen on the box. I sent the picture to Stiles and waited. "Did you get it?" I asked.

"Yeah, wolfsbane." Stiles told us.

"What does that mean?" I asked, getting worried for Isaac.

"It means they're gonna kill him." Stiles replied.

Allison and I quickly gathered everything we'd need, which basically meant both of our bows. I managed to sneak the keys to my mom's BMW and got in while Allison drove her own car. She was headed to wherever Scott was to try and help him lock himself up for the full moon while I was headed to slow down the hunter at any and all costs.

I parked my car a few blocks over from the sheriff's department and sneaked through the alleys to try and find the car. I recognized the large SUV and quickly drew back an arrow. I aimed toward the back tire and was satisfied when my arrow hit its mark. I drew another arrow back, when the car didn't stop and aimed it towards the front tire. The SUV came to a stop a few feet later and the man driving it stepped out to inspect the tires. As he looked down at the front tire, I hurried across the street and over into the alley across from the one I'd previously been in. I tensed when my heels clicked, alerting the hunter. He turned and began walking towards where the noise came from, but I quickly drew back another arrow and smirked when it landed in his upper leg. He groaned and leaned against the car.

I turned and began walking away, down another alley and back towards my mom's car. As I climbed into the car I reached over and dialed Stiles' number, driving towards the sheriff's department to meet him there.

"Hey, did you slow him down?" Stiles asked as he answered the call.

I smirked and turned the car onto another street.

"You could say that." I replied.

"Alright, well, I'm uh, I'm headed to the station right now." He replied.

"I'll meet you there. Allison's helping Scott." I explained as I turned and parked my car outside of the station. Stiles parked next to me a few moments later and I climbed out of my car, seeing an older guy sitting in the front seat.

I frowned in confusion and walked over to Stiles' window. I leaned against the car and raised an eyebrow at the guy.

"Emma, Derek. Derek, Emma." Stiles introduced us. "Okay, so the keys to every cell are in a password protected lockbox in my father's office. The problem is, getting past the front desk." He explained to the both of us.

"I'll distract her." Derek moved to get out of the car, but before he could Stiles reached forward to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You?" Stiles raised an eyebrow. "You're not going in there. " Derek looked at the hand Stiles had gripping his leather jacket. Stiles retracted his hand quickly. "I'm taking my hand off."

"I was exonerated." Derek told him, glancing over Stiles' shoulder at me. I raised an eyebrow in response, but didn't say anything.

"You're still a person of interest." Stiles replied.

"An innocent person." Derek told him.

"An-you?" Stiles asked. "Yeah, right!" he responded, sounding slightly amused at the thought of Derek being innocent.

"Stiles, just let him go. We don't have time and Isaac is in there." I responded, trying to get this show on the road so that Isaac could be safe. Derek raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything.

"Alright, what's your plan?" Stiles asked him.

"To distract her." Derek nodded.

"Uh huh-how? By punching her in the face?" Stiles asked. I groaned and ran a hand through my hair.

"He's going to flirt with her, Stiles!" I exclaimed.

"By talking to her." Derek responded, ignoring me.

"Okay, alright. Give me a sample, what are you opening with?" Stiles asked.

Derek didn't reply, he only stared at Stiles as if he were asking if all of this was really necessary. I shook my head and crossed my arms.

"Dead silence." Stiles nodded. "That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?"

"I'm thinking about punching you in the face." Derek responded. I chuckled quietly to myself and smirked over at Derek.

Stiles and I followed silently while Derek stepped into the station. The deputy at the front desk stepped forward and began talking to Derek, instantly picking up on the flirtatious vibe. I grinned and stepped forward, leading Stiles down the hallway. He quickly stepped in front of me and led the way to his father's office.

I stayed outside of the office and kept a lookout for anyone while Stiles went in to get the keys. He came rushing out a few minutes later and led me down the hallway.

We turned down a hallway and I quickly hid around the corner as the hunter I'd shot with an arrow before stepped out of the dark. Stiles stepped forward and met him, a few moments later he noticed the broken arrow poking out of the deputy's leg and attempted to run away, but was grabbed and dragged through the station back to the holding cells.

I groaned and readied my bow with an arrow and followed silently behind them. Stiles managed to reach out and pull the fire alarm while being dragged. I rolled my eyes and turned around the corner, pressing my back to the wall.

I stepped into the room with the holding cells and frowned in confusion at the opened door where Isaac should be.

I reached forward and gripped onto Stiles, attempting to drag him away as Isaac in wolf form game barreling towards the hunter. Stiles grabbed my forearm and pulled me down behind a desk. We both huddled close together, attempting to stay out of Isaac's way. I whimpered and hid my face in Stile's shoulder as Derek came into the room and stepped on the vile with the wolfsbane in it. Isaac started towards us, but before he could get any closer Derek growled loudly at him, causing him to fall to the ground and cower.

I got up from the floor and slid across the room, gently touching Isaac's shoulder and trying to get him to look at me. I murmured softly to him and smiled when I saw his normal face looking back at me.

"How did you do that?" Stiles asked as I cupped Isaac's face and smiled gently at him.

"I'm the alpha." Derek told him smugly.

"It's okay, you're okay." I nodded encouragingly at Isaac. He reached forward and touched my hands that were cupping his cheeks, watching my eyes silently.

"Come on, I have to get him out of here." Derek told me, reaching down to help Isaac up. I nodded and moved out of the way, but Isaac kept a firm grip on my hand. He refused to let go even as Derek tried to pull him out of the station. Derek raised an eyebrow and huffed in annoyance.

"Hey, it's okay." I smiled gently at Isaac, stepping closer to him and running a hand through his hair. "You need to be with Derek right now, he can help you. I can't." I nodded and then gently dropped his hand. "I'll see you soon."

Isaac whimpered and then drew me in closely. I stiffened, but then calmed down instantly when I realized that he was only trying to hug me. I hugged him back, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. I pulled back from him and nodded, stepping back as Derek led him out of the station and to who know's where for the rest of the night.

Stiles stepped forward and turned me around by placing his hands on my shoulders. I glanced up at him and then looked over at the hunter lying on the floor. I frowned and chewed on my lip and then sort of just gripped on to Stiles, trying to find comfort anywhere I could because as soon as my family found out that the hunter had failed to kill Isaac, things would go to hell. Before he could say anything the sheriff stepped into the room and stared with a confused expression at the empty holding cell, the dead man on the ground, and his son hugging me. I smiled timidly and waved my hand in a greeting.

"Uh, he did it." Stiles pointed to the hunter.

I waved to Stiles and reversed my car out of the parking spot in front of the station. I drove him silently, thinking over everything that had happened that night. It was my first time being an accessory to one of Scott and Stiles' shenanigans against my family and it felt pretty good. When I'd first heard about werewolves I told my parents I didn't want anything to do with the hunting game. That was still true, but now instead of hunting werewolves, I was helping them and apparently hugging them. I shook my head at the weird things that had happened between me and Isaac.

I parked the car and got out, making sure to put my bow back in its exact spot in the garage. I walked through the house, dragging my feet a bit as I headed up the stairs towards my room.

"Where have you been?" I turned to see my mom smiling at me from the bottom of the stairs.

"With a boy." I responded, turning to walk up the stairs.

"Which boy?" my mom asked, climbing the stairs quickly and stopping me.

"Stiles Stilinski, he's the sheriff's son." I told her and it wasn't a complete lie, most of my night had been spent with Stiles, I just left out the part about being part of the reason why a hunter didn't succeed in taking down a werewolf.

My mom nodded in approval and then winked. I took that as my cue to leave, so I turned and headed towards my room. I just wanted this day to be over with already.

I practically fell down into my bed, not even worrying about changing into pajamas or taking off my make-up. I was simply just too tired to try.

I drifted off easily enough, this time I wasn't plagued by dreams of lacrosse players only weird looking lizard things and a blue eyed werewolf.


	4. happiness

_Happiness damn near destroys you, breaks your faith to pieces on the floor.  
So you tell yourself, that's enough for now. Happiness has a violent roar. _

"I need gas, can you come with me?" I glanced up to see Allison standing in the doorway of my room.

I held up a finger to her to indicate for her to wait a moment and grabbed my phone that was previously on speaker. I took it off speaker and placed it in between my ear and my shoulder.

"Hey, I gotta go. Allison and I are going out." I explained as I stepped off of my bed and grabbed a pair of black Vans from under my bed.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and pulled them on while Allison watched me curiously from the doorway. I smiled shyly at her and waited for Isaac to say anything.

"Okay, just, you know, be careful." He replied. "It's night time and there might be somebody out there." I smiled at his way of telling me that he worried about me and walked out of the room, following Allison closely behind.

"I'll be fine. I'll see you soon, okay?" I promised as we walked down the stairs. I saw my dad peak out from the study and look at us curiously, but he ducked back in before we could say anything. I frowned at that, but continued outside and to Allison's car. "Okay, bye." I smiled and hung up.

I climbed into the car and glanced over to see Allison staring at me, waiting for me to dish out all the gossip on that phone call. I smiled and shook my hand while Allison drove out of the driveway and to the closest gas station.

"Okay, but please just be careful." Allison told me after I'd explained about the police station and how Isaac had gotten my number somehow. "I'm not exactly poster child for werewolf/hunter relationships, but they get really tricky, especially since everyone knows Isaac's a werewolf. " I sighed and got out of the car at the same time she did.

I frowned and ran my hand up and down my arm. It was freezing in early winter in northern California, especially this late at night when the sun wasn't up to at least warm us up a little. I looked around, trying to see if there was anyone around us. Ever since my parents dropped the hunter bomb on me, I'd become super cautious when it came to being alone in random places late at night.

I leaned against the car as Allison put the gas nozzle into the tank. The little bell above the door chimed and I glanced up and watched as a guy walked out of straddled his motorcycle. Allison looked over his shoulder at him as the guy smiled at us and nodded and then put on his helmet. She frowned and turned away from him, raising an eyebrow at me in confusion. I shrugged, not having any idea why this random guy had smiled at us. He started the bike and drove away.

I sighed and held my arms tighter to my body. I started to feel a little weird about this entire situation and just as the guy on the motorcycle was out of her eyesight, the lights at the gas station went out. I stood still in almost complete darkness and knew that something was going on. I stepped back, closer to the car and looked around, trying to see if anyone was approaching us.

"Emma, get in the car." I turned to look over my shoulder as Allison took the nozzle out of the gas tank and headed towards the driver's side door.

I followed quickly, climbing into the passenger seat. I glanced over and frowned, though, when I saw Allison reaching for the keys that were no longer in the ignition.

"Em, do you see my keys anywhere?" she asked. I glanced around the car as Allison climbed out to look for them outside.

I frowned when I couldn't find them and climbed out of the car, looking on my side. I looked around on the ground, but straightened up at the same time as Allison did when I heard keys jingling nearby. I frowned and looked around, not being able to see anyone or anything due to the darkness.

I looked across the street, towards some of the other buildings, but turned back when I heard Allison gasp. My eyes widened when I saw my cousin with a bag over her head, but before I could move to do anything to help her, one was pulled over my head as well. I struggled, trying to fight back, but was unable to.

I was gagged and transported somewhere, by the feeling of the seat underneath me I thought maybe we were in Allison's car. It seemed kind of weird that kidnappers would transport us somewhere in our own car, but then again maybe it was a genius idea. I tried to listen and hear where we were going, but that became impossible as soon as the person driving the car turned on the radio and turned up the volume really loud.

I felt around me as best as I could with my hands tied together behind my back. I could feel another body next to mine, probably Allison. I reached out and gripped her hand, she tightened her grip on mine and we held our hands together the entire journey to wherever we were going. Soon enough, the car stopped and the back doors were pulled open. Allison was pulled from her side as I was pulled from mine and we were forced to drop each other's hands.

I was put down into a chair and my hands were rebound so that my arms went around the back of the chair. The bag over my head was ripped off and I glanced around wildly, trying to figure out where I was and who had taken me. I saw Allison next to me, we made eye contact and I nodded slowly, trying to encourage her the best way I could. I turned and my eyes widened when I saw my Uncle Chris in a similar position across from us.

"Ever wonder what happens if a hunter gets bitten, Allison?" I frowned and glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Allison wasn't doing too well, she was crying and struggling trying her hardest to get to her dad. I calmed myself down as best as I could and lowered myself in the chair so that my arms were bent. I reached my fingers as far as they could go and attempted to untie the bonds.

"Ever wonder what happens if you get bitten?" I frowned and leaned back in my chair when I was unable to untie any of the bonds.

"What do you think your father would do?" I paused frowned, thinking about what my father would do if he knew that I was fraternizing with the enemy. "What do you think he'd have to do?" I shook my head.

I just had to believe that my dad wouldn't kill me. I had to believe that my family loved me enough to let me go if I were to become a werewolf. I didn't believe in all of the hunting stuff enough to want to die if I became a werewolf, but I also never saw myself actually becoming one.

I glanced up when I heard my Uncle Chris groaning and saw the chair he was sitting on break. I guess that was one way of getting yourself out. He quickly untied his bonds and grabbed the gag from his mouth. He held his hand out and an iPhone was placed into it. I frowned when I saw a recording playing.

"When all it would take to change everything is one bite." I glared at the phone. "One bite."

"Everything changes." Uncle Chris stood and handed the phone to the guy we'd seen at the gas station. I sat back in my chair, glaring at my uncle.

He reached forward and took the gag from out of Allison's mouth. The guy from the gas station stepped forward and took the gag out of mine.

"Is this how we're gonna do father/daughter talks from now on?" she asked, glaring up at her father harshly.

"No," Uncle Chris shook his head, glancing over at me. "This is how we're gonna train you." He pointed to Allison and then moved his hand to point at me. "Do you know why we use arrows?" Uncle Chris asked as he stepped away from us.

"They can't heal until it's taken out." Allison replied.

"Look familiar?" Uncle Chris held out a broken arrow. I frowned when I realized that it must've been the one that I shot the hunter with. I inched forward, trying to protect Allison from any verbal lashing she might get if her dad thought it was her that had shot the hunter. He glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow.

"You were going to kill him." I spoke for the first time, glaring at my uncle.

"That's right and if we find Isaac on another full moon we will kill him." I continued to glare, trying my hardest not to show any other emotion. The last thing I needed was to be emotionally vulnerable to my uncle. He stepped forward, pointing the arrow at me. "That's the hard choice we make, but it wasn't my choice."

"Gerard?" Allison asked.

"No." Uncle Chris shook his head. He walked around and kneeled behind the chair Allison was sitting in. "You see, our family has a surprisingly progressive tradition." I looked up at him in confusion. "Knowing wars and violence are typically started by men, we place the final decisions, the hard ones…with the women." I stiffened, knowing immediately who had put the target on Isaac's back.

I shook my head, not being able to believe that my mother and aunt had decided to kill an innocent teenaged boy. That was a direct violation of the code, something my mother had always seemed so devoted to.

"Our sons are trained to be soldiers." Uncle Chris said as he walked away from Allison's chair. "Our daughters," he placed his hand down on Allison's shoulder.

"To be leaders." I glanced up and frowned when I saw my own dad walking through the doorway of the room and over to me. He circled around my chair and placed the arrow into my tied hands. I glanced down at the arrow and the up into my dad's eyes.

"Training starts now." Uncle Chris said as he left the room. My dad nodded and left the room.

"Time them." He told the guy standing in the doorway; he nodded and then pressed a button on his beginning to time us.

I frowned and began working on the bonds, cutting them with the arrow in my hand. I glanced over to see Allison trying to untie herself. I shook my head and continued sawing. After about an hour and a half the bonds were cut enough that I could slide my smaller wrists through. I grinned and stood from my chair, immediately going behind Allison's and beginning to untie her.

"We have to be careful, Allie." I whispered as I was untying her. "It just seems too obvious that I get kidnapped by my own dad and forced into training on the same night that I was talking to Isaac on the phone."

I untied Allison and then two of us stood. We walked out of the house and around to see the guy from before leaning against her car.

"Congrats." He smirked.

"On what, it took us two and a half hours." I frowned as I moved my hand to open the passenger side door.

"It took me three my first time." I smirked a little to myself and nodded, climbing into the car.

Allison started it and the hunter stood from his position. I glanced back to see him walking over to his bike and then turned forward in the car.

We were silent the entire ride home, neither of us really knew what to say. Our mothers had decided to kill Isaac and our fathers had kidnapped us, our lives were getting pretty confusing. I chewed on my lip and stared out of the window, wondering how simple my life would've been if we had just stayed in San Francisco.

When we got home I stalked inside, ignoring my mom's call from the kitchen. I climbed up the stairs and went to my room, closing the door behind me.

The next morning I woke up and continued with my everyday routine, but refused to say anything to any of my family members, but Allison. My mom frowned and watched me in the kitchen as I put some coffee into a travel mug. I glanced up and saw her staring at me and raised an eyebrow, but otherwise kept my face neutral and free of any emotion.

I shook my head and grabbed my bag for school. I grabbed keys from the wall, not really caring whose car they belonged to. I went outside and looked down. They were my dad's keys. I sighed and walked over to the Range Rover, I unlocked it and climbed in. I was too impatient to wait for Allison to get ready and I really didn't want to be in the house with my family for any longer than I had to be.

I got to school and parked next to Allison's usual parking spot. I climbed out of the car and locked it and then began walking into the school.

"Hey there, little Argent." I raised an eyebrow at Stiles as he began walking beside me. "You're smaller than Allison, therefore, you're little Argent." He smirked. I rolled my eyes and headed towards the gym.

I changed in the locker room into a pair of shorts and a tank top. I walked out into the gym and pulled the hairband from my wrist, pulling my dark curls into a high ponytail. I sighed when I saw the giant rock wall; today was going to be a bad day.

I stayed near the back during the beginning; I didn't want to be called on if I didn't have to do it.

"Argent, the smaller one and Jackson." Coach pointed to me and then to Jackson, who I hadn't even noticed was in this class.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the wall, easily attaching myself into the harness without any help.

"Do a lot of rock climbing, Em?" I turned and raised an eyebrow at Jackson, who had watched me the entire time I was getting into the harness. I shrugged, why let him know that I had actually done quite a bit of rock climbing.

I began climbing easily enough, leaving Jackson behind only for a few moments.

"I shouldn't be surprised." I turned to frown at him. "You Argents are good at everything, apparently." He rolled his eyes.

"You're right." I beamed.

"Add your extreme athletic ability to your weird beauty and you're the perfect girl." He shook his head.

"I'm not perfect, Jackson." I told him, climbing up a little higher. I glanced down at him. "Far from it." I reached the top of the wall and easily propelled myself down, passing Jackson on my way down.

I got myself out of the harness and stepped back, merging into the crowd around me easily enough. I stood next to Allison and watched while Jackson came down only a few moments after me. He sauntered over and stood beside me, smirking down at me. I rolled my eyes and watched Allison and Scott begin to climb up the wall.

I rolled my eyes as the class laughed when Scott fell down the wall. Allison reached the top soon after and then propelled down. She joined me, standing on my other side because Jackson was still standing beside me.

"Alright next two, Stilinski and Erica." Stiles nodded and walked over to the wall; Erica followed a little slower behind him, but harnessed herself in nonetheless.

I watched with a concerned frown as Erica struggled to climb up the wall. Stiles propelled down beside her, having already reached the top and she was only near the middle. Everyone stepped forward and gathered near the bottom of the wall, looking up at Erica. Coach began shouting up at her, asking if she was okay. Lydia corrected him about the definition of vertigo and I smirked over at the red head. She glanced over at me and grinned and then turned back to looking up at Erica.

"Coach, maybe it's not safe. You know she's epileptic." Allison said.

"Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff?" Coach shook his head. "Erica, you're fine. Just kick off from the wall. There's a mat to catch you. Come on." Coach encouraged.

I frowned and looked up, waiting for her to make any kind of move. Erica kicked off from the wall and came down easily. When she landed I took a deep breath.

"See you're fine, you're on the ground. Let's go, shake it off. You're fine." Erica stepped away from the wall and started walking towards the locker room. Other people in the class snickered as she walked past and I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Erica!" I called after her. I followed her quickly into the locker room and smiled when she stopped to look at me. "Don't worry about them," I told her. "They're just mean teenagers who laugh at other people's misfortunes because they don't want people to see theirs."

Erica nodded with a small smile and then went back to her locker. I smiled and then walked over to my own.

I let my hair down from the ponytail and changed into my regular clothes. As I was putting in my last earring Allison came rushing into the locker room. I frowned as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out and towards the wall, where Erica was seizing on the floor.

"Oh crap, go get Coach." I said as I sat down next to her. "Turn her on her side." I told Scott. Scott turner her easily as I watched her. "How'd you know?" I looked up at him.

"I just felt it." He responded as he held Erica's hand. I frowned and looked down at her.

After the Erica incident Coach had informed all of us to continue on to class. I gripped my books close to my chest and walked down the hallway, before I could get very far, however, an arm reached out from a classroom and pulled me in. I stiffened, immediately expecting the worst, but calmed down immensely when I saw Jackson looking down at me.

"What?" I asked. "Come to make out with me in an empty classroom?" I asked with a frown, not really in the mood to deal with Jackson.

"Is Isaac a werewolf?" he asked. I glanced up quickly and frowned. "Just tell me, Emma."

"Isaac is a troubled kid whose father just died. He was wrongly accused of murdering his father and he escaped from jail. That's all I know." I told him as I stepped back and made to leave the classroom.

Jackson reached forward and gripped my wrist, pulling me back and forcing me to turn around. I looked up. I hadn't noticed until that moment just how close we actually were. If one of us moved we'd be kissing. I stared at Jackson, waiting for him to say or do anything, but he only stared back at me. The warning bell rang and he smirked a little.

"Seems like we're always being interrupted by the bell." He whispered. He dropped my wrist and stepped around me. Jackson opened the door and held it open for me. I rolled my eyes and walked through and into the hallway, I headed towards class immediately, not wanting to have any more alone time with Jackson for now.


	5. dna

_It's all about his kiss, contaminates my lip. Our energy connects, it's simple genetics.  
I'm the X to his Y; it's the color of his eyes. He can do no wrong no, he don't need to try.  
Made from the best, he passes all the tests. Got my heart beating fast, it's cardiac arrest._

"Okay, so Stiles, Lydia, Scott, and I are going ice skating later tonight." Allison told me as I was standing in front of my locker. I glanced up at her and nodded, not saying anything. She frowned and stepped closer to me. "Do you wanna come?" she asked.

I shook my head and grabbed the text book I needed to look over during Study Hall. I stepped back and closed my locker. I turned on my heel and walked away from my cousin and towards the library. I walked into the library and took a seat at a random table, not really caring who I sat next to. I opened the book and began reading about infections for Biology.

I glanced up and raised an eyebrow when Matt sat down across from me. He frowned and put his camera down onto the table. He didn't even say anything to me; instead he turned his camera around, inspecting the lens. He looked up and noticed me watching him and lifted the side of his mouth in a kind of half smile.

"Your boyfriend broke my camera." He told me, shaking his head.

"That'd be kind of hard considering I don't have a boyfriend?" I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else. Instead, I went back to reading from my book.

When class was over I left the library quickly and headed towards the cafeteria. I stopped in the doorway and rolled my eyes when I saw Stiles sitting at a table with a guy I didn't recognize. I walked through the cafeteria and sat down at the table next to Scott's so that my back was facing him. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed me, but didn't say anything.

I frowned when the noise in the cafeteria stopped and everyone turned to look at the doorway. I turned in my seat and my eyes widened when I saw Erica waltzing into the cafeteria. She was wearing a mini skirt and heels and she looked ten times better than when I had last seen her. I smiled, good for her.

"What the holy hell is that?" I turned to see Lydia leaning against Scott and Stiles' table. I laughed and shook my head. Lydia looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.

"That is proof that money can buy happiness." I told her as I stood from my chair. Lydia stood up as well and together the two of us walked out of the cafeteria.

As we walked down the hallway Lydia and I discussed the lesson from Chemistry that day and argued over whether certain theories were true or not. I noticed, though, that she stiffened and averted her eyes when the two of us passed by Jackson talking quietly with Danny at his locker. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he only shrugged and went back to his conversation. I frowned and changed the subject to clothes when we reached our lockers.

"You know, I like you." I glanced up from putting in my combination and smiled at Lydia. "You're capable of having intelligent conversations as well as talking about fashion." She nodded.

"You're not so bad yourself, Lydia." I replied.

I hung off of Allison's bed later that night. My head was near the floor and my long dark hair was fanned out on the white carpet. I laughed at something Lydia said when Uncle Chris knocked on the door. He stepped into the room and the three of us turned to see him.

"Headed out?" he asked.

"Studying." Allison responded. Uncle Chris gestured with his head for Allison to come over to him. I rolled my eyes and somersaulted off of the bed.

Lydia giggled at me and I winked back. I sat down at Allison's vanity and brushed through my hair.

I waved as Allison and Lydia drove away. I turned back and headed back inside, but was stopped at the staircase by my mom. I raised an eyebrow at her and crossed my arms.

"What's up with your sudden attitude change?" she asked.

"Maybe it's the fact that my dad kidnapped me?" I asked. "Or maybe it's that my mother wanted to kill an innocent teenaged boy, who happens to be one of my classmates and someone that actually welcomed me into this freak show of a town?" I raised an eyebrow.

"This is about Isaac?" she shook her head. "Emeline, you know how dangerous those things can be and if anything, my decision is for the better. He can't hurt you if he's dead."

"He wouldn't have hurt me, mom!" I glared and shook my head. "You know what; I don't expect you to understand. You've never understood anything about me." I turned on my heel and started walking up the stairs.

"Emma!" she called after me. "Emeline Victoria Argent we aren't done here!" I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

"Oh now, Paige, let her go." I frowned when I heard Gerard's voice. I turned to see him standing at the bottom of the stairs with his arm around my mom's shoulders. He looked up at me and smiled. "She's a teenager, they're meant to rebel."

I shook my head and continued up the stairs and to my room, not wanting to be subjected to Gerard's judgment for any longer. I walked into my room and fell down onto my bed. As soon as I closed the door I had locked it, there was no way I was going to be associating with any member of my family other than Allison tonight. I felt my phone vibrate and turned over to see it.

1 new message from: Jackson Whittemore

To: Emma Argent

_Come over and study?_

I sighed. Part of me wanted to go over there just to get away from my family. Another part of me wanted to know why Jackson was so curious about Isaac becoming a werewolf. The last part of me didn't want to go to Jackson's because I didn't want Lydia to hate me when we'd just become good friends.

To: Emma Argent

_Just studying, I promise. _

I rolled my eyes and stood up from my bed. I grabbed my bag for school and opened the door. I walked down the stairs and knocked twice on the door of the study. Uncle Chris opened the door and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Is my dad in there?" I asked. He nodded and moved out of the way so that I could see my dad and Gerard standing near the desk. My dad turned to look at me over his shoulder and smiled. "Can I go to a friend's house to study?" I asked.

My dad stood up from the chair he was sitting in and walked over towards the door. Uncle Chris left the doorway and went back to the desk, taking the chair next to the one my dad had just vacated.

"Which friend?" he asked when he was closer to me.

"Jackson." I responded, crossing my arms. "You know, co-captain of the lacrosse team, captain of the swim team, Jackson Whittemore."

"Is it going to be just you and him?" he asked, crossing his arms in the same way that I had. I nodded. "Emma, I'm not sure how I feel about you being alone with a boy." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Dad, his parents are home and if it makes you feel better we'll stay in the living room. Please. I need a normal teenage social life. I can't keep myself cooped up in here forever." I told him.

"Why didn't you just go study with Allison and Lydia?" he asked.

"Because they're not studying the same thing that Jackson and I have to study." I replied quickly.

My dad sighed and then nodded. He fished in his pockets and then held out the keys to his Range Rover to me. I took them with a smile and bounced away, headed outside.

"Be careful, Em." He called out to me. I turned to smile at him over my shoulder and walked outside.

I drove to Jackson's easily; remembering how to get there from the time that I went to Megan's to work on a project. I frowned and glanced over at Isaac's now empty house. I wondered where he was. I knew he was with Derek, but they could've been anywhere.

I parked my car on the curb outside of Jackson's house and walked up the many stairs easily. I rang the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to answer the door. I smiled timidly when the someone that answered was a middle aged woman. She smiled at me and cocked her hide to the side.

"Um, hi, I'm Emma, I'm a friend of Jackson's." I smiled shyly.

"Oh, of course. Come on in!" she opened the door further and gestured for me to come in. I smiled and nodded. I walked in past her and stopped in the entryway, waiting for further instructions. "Jackson's up in his room," she pointed to the stairs. "First door on the right." I nodded and smiled at her before climbing up the stairs.

"Your mom's nice." I said as I closed the door behind me. Jackson glanced up at me from the textbook on his bed and smirked. I rolled my eyes and walked over to his bed. I fell down onto it next to him and looked at the book in front of him. "Biology?" I asked, not remembering that we had homework in that class.

"Yeah, the lesson today interested me." he said as he closed the book. I nodded and grabbed my history textbook. I set it in front of him and turned to the pages we were assigned to read for that night. "You're actually going to study?" he asked with an amused smirk.

"That's what I was promised." I smiled over at him and turned back to the book.

After spending about half an hour in silence I finished the reading and closed my book. I glanced over to see Jackson with his back against the headboard. He had his Biology textbook opened on his knees and he was frowning, concentrating pretty hard on whatever he was writing. I chewed on my lip and watched him.

It was insane that I'd only been in Beacon Hills for a little while, but I was already lounging on a boy's bed. As I watched him, I wasn't surprised at all that I felt certain things towards him. He was the epitome of my type. He was the athletic, cocky, all-American kind of guy and I'd been falling for that guy ever since I was old enough to believe boys didn't have cooties.

I knew it was probably a bad idea. Jackson was probably going to break my heart, but for some reason, I didn't seem to care. I sat up and pushed my book and bag onto the floor. Jackson looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow. I only shook my head and crawled over towards him. I took the textbook from his lap and closed it, putting it on his nightstand.

"What are you doing, Emma?" Jackson asked. I shook my hand again and leaned forward, pressing my lips against his. He didn't react at first, but when he realized what was happening he quickly began kissing me back.

He reached forward and cupped my face with his hands as I wrapped my arms around his waist. I felt his tongue run across my bottom lip and opened my mouth to grant it access. Our tongues battled for a few moments, but I was forced to pull away when the need for air overpowered the need to kiss him. He pressed his forehead against mine and I fluttered my eyes open to stare back into his.

"Was that a bad idea?" I asked him after a few moments of silence.

"Nope." He replied as he leaned forward and took control over my mouth again. I smiled into the kiss and responded.

An hour or so and a make out session later Jackson was standing with me outside next to my dad's car. I leaned against the driver's side door and smiled up at him. He smirked back and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." I told him, reaching up and kissing him once quickly. He nodded, but didn't let go of me. "I need to go." I smiled, but didn't make any move to leave his arms.

"Yeah, of course." Jackson nodded, but instead of letting go he leaned down and kissed me again. I smiled and kissed him back, but pulled away a few minutes later.

"Seriously, I have a curfew." Jackson nodded and kissed me again. I pulled away and turned my head, laughing slightly. He smiled and pressed his forehead against my temple. "Bye." I told him as I turned to face him again. I pecked his lips with my own and then slid out of his arms.

I turned to open the car door and Jackson kept his arms around me, this time hugging me from behind. He pressed his face into my neck and tightened his hold.

"Don't go." He whined into my neck.

"I have to or my dad's never going to let me out of the house again." I replied. I turned around in his arms and smiled up at him. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded and dropped his arms. I tip toed up and kissed him for the last time and then quickly got into the car.

As I drove home I hummed along to the radio with a ridiculous smile on my face. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel and then parked the car outside. I climbed out and locked the doors. I walked into the house and went into the kitchen to see my dad leaned against the counter with a mug clasped between his hands. My aunt was standing at the sink washing dishes and my mom was sitting at the counter with a magazine open in front of her. I waltzed into the kitchen and dropped the keys into my dad's hand. I leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"Goodnight family." I smiled and then exited the kitchen. My mom, aunt, and father all stared after me with confused expressions on their faces, wondering just what got into me.

I walked upstairs and into my room, falling asleep immediately.

The next morning I walked down the hallway towards my locker with Jackson's arm slung lazily over my shoulders. He complained about having lacrosse practice. I had been paying attention at first, but now my attention was drawn towards the end of the hallway here Scott was standing against a row of lockers and Erica was in front of him, leaning in and talking about something. Jackson frowned and then followed my line of sight.

"Typical." He rolled his eyes and then steered us towards our class. I glanced over my shoulder to see Allison standing at the end of the hallway watching them with a frown.

After class I walked towards my locker. Jackson stood against the locker next to mine and watched me put in my combination. I turned to raise an eyebrow at him and smiled.

"I'm gonna go somewhere during lunch." I frowned and waited for him to continue. "It's not a big deal, just something I need to take care of." I nodded. He stood up completely and leaned forward to kiss my cheek. "I'll see you later."

**With Jackson.**

"What happened to him?" Jackson asked as the two hunters that had guns pointed towards his face walked away and Allison's dad stepped into the entryway of the house.

"That's a good question. I got one for you, what are you doing here, Jackson?" Chris asked.

"Um, nothing, I was-I was just, nothing, I was." Chris nodded and reached forward, putting a hand on Jackson's shoulder and leading him away from the house.

"Jackson, I hope you're not still pursuing something that you shouldn't be." Chris said. Jackson looked over his shoulder, still trying to find Derek. "Because I don't want to be forced to pursue you. Especially considering this newfound relationship you have with my niece. Stay out of this." Chris turned Jackson to face him. "You have so much good in your life. You're smart, good looking, captain of the lacrosse team."

"Co-captain." Jackson corrected.

Chris only just pushed Jackson out of the door. The teenager glanced over his shoulder into the house, but he knew when to walk away. He stepped away from the house and went back to his car, headed back to school and back to Emma.

**With Emma. **

I sighed and rolled over on my bed. I didn't have any homework and Allison was M.I.A so I was sitting in my room waiting for anything to do. I reached over and grabbed my phone, scrolling through my contacts and clicking on Jackson's name.

The phone wrong, but eventually went to voicemail. I frowned and wondered what he could be doing that he couldn't answer his phone. I shrugged and put my phone back onto my nightstand, deciding that now was as good a time as any to go to sleep.

**With Jackson. **

He heard his phone ringing from the passenger seat. He pulled his face away from the steering wheel and glanced over to see Emma's picture flashing across the screen. He frowned and started the engine, deciding to go see her instead of just talking on the phone. His truck, however, had a different plan. He groaned when it wouldn't move from the spot. He glanced back and saw that his tire was spinning in the mud. He slammed his hands down onto the steering wheel and got out of the truck.

Jackson walked around to the back of the truck and began pushing with all of his might. He continued pushing and started losing any confidence he had had. Just when he was about to give up and fell into the mud he started pushing again and was amazed when the truck moved out of the mud.


	6. restless heart

_Pretty girls come from the ugliest places; you come from the worst of the all.  
Heartbreakers like you are hard to erase, you lift me up just so I fall. _

"Emma." I looked up from typing on my computer and raised an eyebrow at my dad.

For as long as I can remember my dad has been my closest ally. Whenever Allison and I would fight when we were younger he was always the peace maker. He used to force us to sit down together in the living room floor with our backs against each other. We would have to sit in silence for as long as it took for us to get over whatever problem we had and no matter how many times he forced us to do it, no matter how many times we swore it wouldn't work, it always did. Sometimes it would be minutes before Allison and I were best friends again, other times it would take hours, but it always worked. I think maybe sometimes my dad had more faith in mine and Allison's relationship than we did.

"Can you run to the grocery store for Mom?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe of my room. "She needs milk." I nodded and rolled off of my bed. I grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find and slid them on and then grabbed my purse from my dresser and my cell phone.

"Just milk?" I asked after I'd gotten all my stuff.

"Yeah, she's going on another one of her baking things." I nodded, understanding immediately what he meant.

When I was younger and I was having a bad day my mom was always waiting for me with a cupcake and an open ear to listen to my rant. She did the same thing for Allison, Kate, and Aunt Victoria. It was her way of showing that she cared about us without actually saying it. We'd all just gotten used to it over the years. My mom got out all of her frustrations and anxiety by baking.

I grabbed the keys from my dad's hand and tip toed up to kiss his cheek. I walked past him and down the stairs. I stepped outside and smiled at Allison and Gerard, who were both standing at her car talking.

"Where are you headed?" Gerard asked me.

"I'm going to the grocery store for my mom, she needs more milk. Did you need anything?" I asked with a polite smile. I figured it was easier if I just went along pretending like my grandfather wasn't trying to murder every werewolf in town, including one of my newest friends.

Gerard shook his head and gestured towards my dad's car with a smile. I nodded at him and then sent Allison a look, letting her know that she and I had to talk when I got back. She smiled, showing me that she understood and then turned back to our grandfather.

I climbed into the car and started the engine. I turned on the headlights and easily backed out of the driveway and then started driving towards the grocery store in town. I glanced at the clock and frowned at the glowing numbers. It was already nine o'clock and Jackson hadn't made any effort to call me back after earlier that night.

A part of me expected that behavior, because even though he acted differently around me, I knew exactly who he was and who he had been. I knew that he was the big school jerk who broke Lydia's heart and didn't seem to mind at all. I knew what I had gotten myself into with this whole thing, or at least I thought I did. Despite knowing exactly what kind of guy Jackson was, it still hurt a little to find out that I wasn't going to be any different than any other girl he'd dated before. I frowned down at my phone and put it in the cup holder.

When I got to the grocery store I parked my car in the lot and hurried inside. I found the milk easily enough and headed towards a checkout lane. I just wanted to get in and out and go back home so that I could attempt to sleep and hope that tomorrow was better. I smiled politely at the cashier and handed over the appropriate amount of cash for the milk. I grabbed it by the handle and walked out of the store, not even bothering with a bag.

I frowned when the lights in the parking lot flickered. I glanced up at them and shook my head, picking up my pace towards the car and grabbing the keys to unlock it as soon as I got over to it. I walked around the back of the car and stopped in my tracks, though, when I saw someone leaning against the driver's side of the car.

I hesitantly walked nearer, trying to figure out who the person was before I grabbed the mace out of my purse and sprayed them to high heaven. I let out a tiny sigh when I saw Isaac looking back at me. I continued walking towards the car, but kept my guard up just in case. He was still a new werewolf and I was still a girl from a family of hunters.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, trying not to sound like I was being impolite. I raised an eyebrow at crossed my arms.

"I was waiting for you." He told me, standing up straight and now towering over me. "We haven't talked in a while, I didn't know if you were okay or not."

"Shouldn't you be with Derek?" I asked, looking around everywhere but at Isaac. He sighed; clearly annoyed with the way this conversation was going and stepped closer to me. I took a tiny step back and finally looked up at him.

"What's going on with you?" he asked.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. This conversation was becoming awkward and I was the only one to blame for it. Isaac was just a concerned friend, someone that I had helped and who wanted to return the favor. He thought there was something wrong with me because I'd been spending more time with Jackson the last few days and didn't even think about calling him to talk or ask him how he was. I chewed on my lip and nodded, looking down at my scuffed boots.

"I'm fine, it's just-"I looked up. "I don't know what to do. I mean, my mom is on a war path. Apparently she wants to avenge my aunt by killing off teen werewolves who haven't actually done anything wrong. My dad kidnapped me the other night to teach me a lesson because I saved you on the full moon. My grandfather is my principal, so he's basically watching me every step I take and my might be possible boyfriend hasn't spoken to me all night." I looked back at Isaac after ranting for a few minutes with a shy smile. I hadn't really expected to burst all of that out and I certainly didn't expect to tell Isaac all of my problems. Usually Allison was the first person to ever hear me complain about something, but clearly she was busy with her own issues. It was obvious that Isaac hadn't really expected that outburst either. He frowned and then looked over at me.

"I'm sorry if I'm making your life more complicated." He frowned some more, making his eyebrows furrow a bit.

"No, don't apologize." I shook my head. "I'm just being a complacent girl, it comes with the territory. Look, I'm sorry. I have to get home because my mom's expecting me, but I'll call you, okay? I don't mean to just shove you off to the side. You can talk to me." I smiled timidly up at him.

Isaac nodded and then stepped around me, headed towards the woods next to the supermarket. I nodded and then stepped over to my car.

"Hey Emma." I turned to look at him over my shoulder. "You don't have to carry the weight of the world, you know?" I frowned in confusion. "You should really think about yourself before you think about everyone else." He smiled and then nodded and headed off to the woods without looking back.

I smiled and then turned and climbed into the car.

On my way home I drove past a garage, I frowned though, when I saw the ambulance and police lights surrounding the front of it. I just barely glanced over to see Stiles sitting in the back of the ambulance next to another man before I completely drove past the scene. I hurried home then, handing over the milk to my mother as soon as I walked through the door and running up the stairs to my room.

I dialed Allison's number quickly and made sure to close and lock my door. I turned around and sat on the edge of my bed, bouncing my foot up and down and chewing on my lip in anticipation.

**With Isaac. **

"I'm teaching you how to survive." Derek pushed himself away from Isaac and stood up. "And that's going to be hard." Isaac frowned in confusion. "Next time you go off to see your precious little hunter, make sure you don't come back smelling like her." Derek walked away from the three betas and into the subway car.

"If they wanted us dead why aren't they coming for us now?" Isaac asked, gripping onto the arm Derek had just broken. "What are they waiting for?"

"I don't know." Derek replied. "But they're planning something and you, especially, know that's not our only problem." Derek said as he stepped closer. "Whatever that thing is that killed Isaac's father, I think it killed someone else last night. And until I find out what it is, you all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you." Derek told them, looking over his shoulder.

**With Emma. **

Allison and I sat at a table outside of the school. I frowned down at the textbook in front of me, trying to focus on the words of Shakespeare rather than on the conversation I'd had with Isaac last night. If my life weren't complicated enough, of course it had to have happened that I saw the boy I'd first been drawn to in Beacon Hills on the same night that the boy I'd been making out with for the past week had been ignoring me.

I'd confessed everything to Allison last night. Everything about the first time I'd met Isaac Lahey to when I'd helped Stiles at the police station to the conversation we'd had that night. I also told her all about Jackson and I and how confused I was. Basically, my cousin told me I was stupid for going after the jerk that broke her best friend's heart and one of Beacon Hills' newest betas. I countered back with her that she was still sneaking around with Scott even though practically our entire family was well aware of the fact that he was a werewolf and at some point wanted him dead.

Now, we were both pretending like everything was back to normal and trying to focus on our homework. Allison glanced up, searching the area for Stiles to come running to deliver Scott's message in their newest form of communication.

I glanced up and saw Stiles headed towards us. I desperately wanted to ask him what happened last night, but before I could he started relaying the message to Allison, asking about some kind of book our family might have.

"I think you mean-"Stiles interrupted her.

"No, I mean bestiary and the two of you; I don't wanna know what's going on in your heads." Stile replied. I laughed and gathered my books.

"I'll see you guys later." I waved and headed off as Allison and Stiles began talking about the book.

I walked over to my locker and turned in my combination easily. I placed the books in my arms into the locker and replaced them with the books I needed for my next class. I stepped back and closed the door and then jumped in surprise when I saw Jackson leaning against the locker next to mine with that ever present smirk on his face.

I frowned at him and turned on my heel, headed towards my class without even saying anything to him.

"Oh come on, Emma!" he followed after me. "Why are you mad?" he asked, leaning over close to me.

"I'm mad because I called you last night and you never called me back. I would've settled for a text, a note on a pigeon's foot, a message in a bottle, anything." I frowned at him. "Jackson, there's weird stuff going on in this town and I was worried."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Emma. I don't need you running in with your little crossbow to save the day." He waved his arms around.

I stopped walking and glared at him. Jackson sighed and stepped closer to me.

"Look, I was practicing lacrosse, I got distracted. I went home and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I'm sorry." He told me.

"You're not very good at apologies." I told him with a frown as I walked into the classroom next to us for my next class. I saw him rolls his eyes and look up at the ceiling before stomping away. I smirked to myself and then walked over to my seat.


	7. yellow

_I swam across,  
I jumped across for you,  
Oh what a thing to do.  
'Cause you were all yellow_

I pulled my jacket closer to my body and stood on my tip toes, trying my hardest to find my cousin and grandfather in the crowd of people. I found them easily enough, walking from the school and towards the bleachers. I joined them a few moments later on Gerard's other side and walked forward to sit down and watch the game. When we got closer to the players' benches I looked around for Jackson. I saw him standing with Danny and Matt. The three of them seemed to be talking intensely, so I continued on with Gerard and Allison and sat down rather than going to talk to them.

The game was in full swing and the Cyclones were being destroyed by a large guy on the other team. I winced as yet another one of our players fell to the ground. Coach yelled out something about wanting to see a birth certificate as I cuddled closer to my cousin. The two of us were both pretty pathetic in the cool California air. We were huddled together for warmth, our teeth chattering and our noses running, but we were there to support our friends.

"I knew I should've brought a warmer jacket." Allison complained as she ran her hands up and down on her arms. I nodded in agreement as Gerard glanced over at us.

"You're cold, here take my coat." He began to slide the coat off and offered it to my cousin.

"Are you sure?" she asked. Gerard agreed and the two of them stood so that he could kelp her put the coat on. I watched in silence from my spot.

Allison huddled back to me and I felt her feeling around in the coat pockets for something. I looked over and saw her take Gerard's keys from one of the pockets and hold them in her hands. I frowned in confusion, but figured it probably had something to do with the bestiary and that she and Stiles would fill me in later. I turned my attention back to the game as another one of our players was thrown onto the ground.

"Good god, is it always this violent?" Gerard asked.

"Pretty much." I replied with a smirk as I glanced up at him.

With his attention on me Gerard didn't notice Allison holding out the keys or Stiles walking by and grabbing them from her.

I frowned when Danny came off of the field. He was handed an ice pack that he put against his head as the coach kneeled down next to him and spoke quietly. A few moments later he pushed Danny up and towards the field and tossed his lacrosse stick to him. He stood up completely and looked around the crowd wildly.

"Where's Stilinski?" he yelled, looking around for Stiles.

Coach glanced around the area, looking for anyone to take the spot of the injured player. His gaze transfixed onto Boyd who was sitting behind us. I glanced over my shoulder at him and Erica as Coach asked if he played lacrosse. Erica attempted to stop him, but Boyd only stood and removed his jacket.

"We got ourselves a player!" Coach celebrated. I frowned and chewed on my lip, knowing that if Boyd went out onto the field Gerard would probably figure out that he was also a werewolf.

I sat forward and covered my mouth with my gloved hands, hoping that Boyd had enough sense to keep his abilities under the radar. I chewed on my lip as the large player from the other team came barreling down the field towards Boyd, who hadn't moved. The much larger player ran into Boyd and fell back onto his back. I flinched and shook my head as everyone around me stood up to celebrate.

I watched the game in anticipation as Scott approached Boyd. I hoped that the much more experienced werewolf could convince the new beta that what he was doing was dangerous, but I knew it probably wouldn't help any. Boyd only ran around Scott when the whistle was blown and continued playing. Scott raced ahead of Boyd and got to the ball before he could. He continued running down the field and threw the ball into the net, scoring for the home team, but he was soon pushed onto his back.

I gasped as I heard him fall and a resounding crack rang out through the field. Allison and I both ran out onto the field while Gerard stayed in the bleachers. Allison and I crouched down next to him while the rest of the team came running forward.

"I'm fine. I'm healing, it's okay." Scott reassured us. I nodded and moved to other side, trying to block the view of his leg from everyone. "The book."

"It's not in his office." Allison replied. "It's gotta be at the house."

"Scott, your leg." I said as I stared at the weird angle his leg was laying in.

"Oh my god, your leg is broken." Allison told him.

"Not for long." He replied as he began to sit up.

Allison and I stood on either side of him and helped him stand as the rest of the team, Coach, Scott's mom, and Gerard joined us. Scott reassured them that he was fine as he stood all the way up. I only held onto his arm gently now, making sure that he was completely okay before I dropped it.

"I could have sworn I literally heard bone breaking from where I sat." Scott's mom said in surprise as she gazed at her son's completely straight leg.

"Heard it, I felt it." Coach shook his head. Scott only reassured them that he was fine.

Allison moved over to Gerard and said that we should leave. I joined her on Gerard's other side and glanced over the crowd, meeting Jackson's curious gaze. I shrugged a tiny bit and then looked down at the ground. I stared at Scott, extremely worried when Gerard said that he wanted to ask him something. I watched on in total surprise as my grandfather invited my cousin's werewolf boyfriend over for dinner. My parents and aunt and uncle were going to freak out when Scott came home with us.

I drove the car in silence on the way home. Jackson had disappeared pretty quickly after the game and I hadn't gotten to see him or congratulate him on the win. It seemed like that was happening a lot lately. I wondered if I had been completely stupid in trusting him like Allison said I was. What could he have been doing all the times he promised he'd call or see me? Why was he suddenly disappearing and not talking to me?

I parked my dad's car in the driveway and climbed out. I walked into the house and saw Gerard, Allison, and Scott standing in the dining room staring into the kitchen where my aunt was holding a rather large knife and staring back at them. I chewed on my bottom lip, trying my hardest not to laugh at this situation.

My mother was the first to break the awkward silence. She moved quickly into the dining room and gestured for Scott to have a seat on the side of the table where she and I usually sat. I joined them a few seconds later and sat down on Scott's right while she joined my aunt back in the kitchen. Allison sat across from me while my dad sat across from the vacant seat next to Scott and my uncle and Gerard sat in the two chairs at the heads of the table. My aunt and mom came into the dining room and placed everything on the table and then took the two empty seats.

I stared down at my plate silently as everyone in the dining room ate and didn't speak a word. I glanced over at Scott and lifted the side of my mouth in a small smile and then nudged his leg with my own under the table to show my own sort of support.

"Alright," Gerard brought his napkin up and pat it against his mouth while looking at everyone at the table. "Where is everyone so quiet?" he asked.

Everyone at the table looked at each other, trying to find some sort of answer for him.

"Is it that uncomfortable that they dated?" Allison seemed to let out a silent sigh of relief.

I looked over and met my cousin's gaze and then looked back down at my plate.

"Did you ask them if they'd be uncomfortable?" Uncle Chris asked.

"Okay, I know it's been a few centuries since I was a teenager, but even back then we dated and broke up all the time." Gerard told us. I smiled at my grandfather and then took a tiny sip of the water that was in front of me.

"We're fine." Allison reassured. "Right, Scott?" she said across the table.

"Totally fine." Scott nodded, moving his fork around in his hand.

"Then why did you broke up?" I snorted, but tried to cover it up with a cough. Everyone turned to stare at me for a moment, but I only stared down at my plate, trying not to get involved in this conversation at all.

"She…dumped me?" Scott responded.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. I shook my head with silent laughter and covered my mouth with my hand.

At the moment I was really glad we decided to move to Beacon Hills. If this is what it meant to live in a town infested with werewolves, then I was totally okay with it because at the moment it was my cousin being embarrassed in front of the entire family, not me.

"No offense, Scott, but I think maybe Allison just thought that the two of you were just growing apart." My uncle spoke and I continued to try and cover my laughter.

My mother was staring at me from across Scott and glaring, trying to get me to behave appropriately like a good Argent should.

"As if the father's opinion isn't biased." Gerard said. "How do you know they weren't as passionate as Romeo and Juliet?" he asked.

"Romeo and Juliet committed ritual suicide." My aunt dropped her fork and glared at her husband. "They could've used a little less passion."

"Can we please talk about something else?" Allison asked.

"Brilliant idea." My aunt muttered as she went back to eating.

I shook with my head with a smile and took another sip from my water.

"Scott," I turned to see my uncle staring at the boy sitting next to me. "How about you help me grab desert from the kitchen?" he asked as he dropped his napkin onto the table and stood from his seat.

I turned to glance at Scott and smiled assuredly, I honestly had no idea what plan my uncle had, but I knew that he wouldn't do anything to harm the werewolf in our house with Gerard in the next room.

A few moments later they both walked back into the dining room carrying desert and looking unscathed. I smiled brightly at Scott as he rejoined me at the table and nudged him again with my leg when he sat down. He turned and smiled back at me, but I could tell he was still extremely nervous.

"What about you then, Emeline?" Gerard asked, turning towards me. I frowned in confusion and put down the glass of water I'd been sipping from. "Are there any boys in Beacon Hills interested in you?" I choked a bit on the water I was swallowing, but recovered a few short seconds later.

"Um, no, not particularly." I smiled bashfully back at my grandfather while lying straight to his face.

"Oh, I find that hard to believe." I turned my gaze across the table to my aunt who was smiling at me. "You're a very beautiful girl, Emeline, an Argent curse." She winked.

"It's not that they aren't interested in her," Allison spoke. I glanced up and stared at her across the table wondering just where she was going with the conversation.

"It's that Emma doesn't give them the time of day." Scott finished for her with a small smile.

I glanced up at him and rolled my eyes. He only laughed at my reaction and pushed around the piece of cake on his plate.

"Do you mind if we're excused? There's actually some English notes I wanted to go over with Scott and Emma." Allison asked. Gerard agreed.

"I'm not so sure it's appropriate." Uncle Chris disagreed.

"Okay, I'm the one that's supposed to be old-fashioned here and it's not like they'll get into any trouble with Emeline there. The three of you, go." Gerard nodded upstairs.

We quickly stood and left the dining room, headed upstairs immediately. I hopped up the stairs and walked down the hallway towards mine and Allison's room, making enough noise for three people while Allison and Scott took a different turn into Gerard's bedroom. I kept watch from the stairs while they searched the room, making sure no one came up the stairs to check on us.

They rejoined me at the top of the stairs and hurried down. I didn't ask what they found or what was going on; I knew Allison would fill me in later. I waved goodbye to Scott and then headed into my room. I didn't care to rejoin my family downstairs at the dinner table.

I fell onto my bed and grabbed for my phone. I scrolled through my contacts and landed on the one person I knew would probably want to talk to me.

To: Scott Howard.

_I'm bored. What are you up to?_

Issac's name in my phone was the name of Michael J Fox's character in the 1985 movie _Teen Wolf. _Allison and I thought it was funny when we first came up with it, but it was the only way we could talk to anyone involved with werewolves without our parents becoming suspicious.

To: Emma A

_Nothing actually. Derek and Erica and Boyd are nowhere to be found. Weird?_

I frowned at that and quickly texted him back while also texting Stiles and asking if he'd seen any of the other Beacon Hills werewolves tonight. With the weird new creature in town we couldn't be sure that anyone was safe.


	8. something right

_We play pretend, keeping all our feelings in  
Somehow I knew it's always been you (always been you)  
How did I find you out? I wasn't even looking  
How did I find this love? When it was least expected  
But I won't let it go, I won't let it go  
I need you by my side  
I want you to know, I want you to know  
We're onto something right_

I hurried down the stairs, throwing things into my bag and trying not to trip over my own two feet. I grabbed the protein shake and the banana being held out to me as well as the car keys and waved to my dad who was laughing at me from the front door. I turned the car on and reversed out of the driveway and headed towards school. Allison and Gerard had both already left the house, warning me about the time when they did and offering to take me, but I hadn't been ready. I took great pride in my appearance for a reason. I parked my car and locked it and then practically ran into the school. I smiled triumphantly when I walked into my first class of the day just before the bell rang. I sat down in the seat next to Scott's without really looking around at anyone else. I shook the protein shake in my hand and opened the top, gulping down 2/3 of it without even really tasting it.

I looked over at the tan werewolf sitting next to me and smirked, offering him the banana on my desk. Scott glanced over at me briefly and shook his head before returning his gaze to the boy sitting in front of me. He continued staring even after Stiles came rushing in and began whispering to him. They both stopped talking however and Stiles joined Scott in staring at the boy in front of me. I frowned in confusion and then stiffened when he turned around to smirk at me.

Isaac was back at school. Oh. God. Save. Me.

I blinked in surprise at the brilliant blue eyes that were penetrating my own and smiled nervously. Isaac smiled in response and then turned back to face the front of the room. For the entire period, I stared at the back of his head, wondering just how exactly he was back. I rushed out of the classroom quickly when the bell rang because the last thing I wanted to do was to be roped into a conversation with Stiles and Scott or even with Isaac.

I walked over to my locker and smiled brightly at Danny who was talking quietly with Jackson about something I wasn't interested in. I opened the locker and replaced the books I'd had the night before with the ones I would need for my next two classes. Jackson winced and I frowned at him and looked up to see Erica and Isaac walking past us. Isaac brushed against me gently as he passed and I chewed on my bottom lip, trying really hard not to show any kind of reaction to his presence.

I shook my head and went back to getting the books I needed from my locker. The bell rang and Jackson covered his ears. I frowned at him in confusion. He didn't react at all to my presence and I only had a few moments before I was going to be late to class, so I didn't say anything to him. Instead I hurried to my next class.

Lydia joined me on the way to Economics and looped her arm with mine. I smirked at the strawberry blonde and we chatted about random things that didn't have much meaning as we entered the classroom. Lydia took her seat in the back and I sat down across the aisle from her, behind the seat Jackson usually sat him. He hurried into the room a few moments later and began whispering to Stiles and Scott.

"Alright, before we get started on our review some of you, like McCall here, should probably start thinking about starting your own study groups because the midterm for tomorrow is so profoundly difficult, I'm not even sure I could pass it." I rolled my eyes as Coach Finstock spoke from the front of the room. "Okay, I need a volunteer at the board to answer the first question." Coach pointed to the board as people began raising their hands to volunteer.

I watched and began working the question on the board in my notebook, only faintly hearing Jackson's discussion with Stiles and Scott in front of me. Coach came up and interrupted, though, before I could ask what they were talking about.

"Jackson, do you have something you want to share with the class?" Coach asked.

"Um, just an undying admiration for my coach." Jackson replied.

I rolled my eyes and looked back up at the board, frowning when I noticed that the guy Coach had chosen to do the question had messed up on one of the processes. I glanced over to see that Lydia had noticed as well and was frowning at the back of the guy's head. I turned back to my notebook and glanced up again to see my friend staring with a horrified expression at the board.

"Lydia?" I whispered, trying to get her attention, but she only continued to stare at the board.

She walked up to the front of the room and began writing on the board. I shrugged and went back to working in my notebook, thinking that maybe she was just ignoring me or being her dramatic self again.

"Em," I raised an eyebrow at Jackson as he whispered to me. He only nodded towards the front of the room where Lydia was crying and holding onto the chalk in her hand. I frowned at her and then looked at the board behind her.

"Okay then, anybody else wanna try answering?" Coach asked. "This time in English." Everyone in the class laughed at Lydia's expense and then raised their hands to volunteer.

"What is that, Greek?" Scott asked, staring at the words on the board. I rolled my eyes at him as Stiles showed him a picture of the writing on the board, but rotated.

When the bell rang I quickly gathered my things and joined Lydia outside of the classroom. We walked to Chemistry together and I did my best to keep her spirits up as people from our Economics class whispered about what had just happened.

"Lydia Martin is such a freak." A girl said, not so quietly from her locker while staring at the girl next to me. Her friend laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Hey." I walked over to them; Lydia stopped and waited behind me with a confused look on her face. The two girls stood straight and stared back at me. "Stacey, right?" I asked. The girl who had called Lydia a freak nodded. "Those jeans were out of style thirty years ago." I told her with a cheery smile. She glared back at me and looked down at her pants self-consciously. "Ciao." I turned on my heel and rejoined my friend. "The only person who gets to talk smack about Lydia Martin, is me." I told her as I looped my arm through hers and dragged her towards Chemistry.

I sat down at a lab table next to Lydia's. Danny joined me soon and we sat talking quietly for a few moments before my attention was drawn towards Scott and Stiles staring behind us. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Erica and Isaac staring back at them. I looked over to see Lydia staring down at her phone clueless to what was going on. Stiles and Scott both hurried to Lydia and sat on either side of her while Isaac and Erica sat behind them. Allison came into the room a few seconds later and frowned in confusion at Scott, but sat down at the table on the other side of them.

"Einstein once said, 'two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.' I myself have encountered infinite stupidity." Mr. Harris pat Stiles on his shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

"So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one." Harris put his hands on his hips as he gazed over the classroom. "Or in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one."

I smirked and laughed at my friend's expense. "Erica, take the first station with," people began raising their hands, mostly boys, but I noticed a few girls raising their hands as well. "I didn't ask for volunteers, put your hormonal little hands down." Mr. Harris said, when he was satisfied he nodded towards Scott. "Start with Mr. McCall, alright next two."

I started with Stiles, who was staring at Isaac and Erica the entire time and trying to figure out what they were up to. I measured out the ingredients needed for the experiment and was happy to ignore all of the werewolf drama for as long as possible. The bell rang a few moments later and Mr. Harris instructed us to switch partners. Stiles stood and was replaced a few moments later by Erica. I rolled my eyes at the blonde as she smirked at me.

"You're Isaac's little play thing, right?" she asked as I continued working on the experiment. I ignored her and focused on the assignment. "I tried telling him that being with an Argent is bad news, but he won't listen to me." she said as she leaned against the lab table.

"Are you going to provide anything intelligent to the conversation or just continue to annoy me?" I asked her as I eyed the beaker I held in front of me. Erica only rolled her eyes and turned to listen in on the conversations happening around her.

The bell rang and she was replaced by another one of the students in the classroom. I sighed in relief when I realized it wasn't someone involved with all of the werewolf drama happening around me. I went through the motions, completely ignoring my partner who only briefly attempted to help in the experiment. The bell rang again a few moments later.

"And time, if you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal." I glanced down at my beaker and smiled happily when I saw a crystal at the bottom. "Now, for a part of that last experiment that I'm sure you'll all enjoy," Harris began. "You can eat it."

I reached into the beaker with the metal tongs and held up the crystal. My partner stared at it curiously, but my gaze was caught on Isaac and Lydia sitting closely together at the lab table next to mine. I frowned at them and then turned to look back at Allison, Scott, and Stiles. Just as Lydia was about to put the crystal into her mouth Scott jumped out of his seat, shouting her name. We all stared at him with curious expressions on his face as he shook his head and sat back down.

Lydia only shrugged and took a bite out of the crystal. I frowned and turned back to my own, grabbing it from the tongs. I crunched down on my own crystal and wondered how my life had gotten so messed up in such a short amount of time.

One of my only friends in Beacon Hills might be a creature that goes out every night and kills people. My might be boyfriend hasn't been speaking to me normally for days. My cousin's ex-boyfriend is a werewolf. My grandfather is starting a war against all of the werewolves in the area, including the boy I'd been attracted to since I came to Beacon Hills. Yeah, things were pretty messed up.

After class Allison gripped my arm and dragged me behind her. Stiles and Scott followed the two of us, looking around and making sure that no one noticed the four of us disappearing downstairs and into the coach's office.

"If Derek's outside waiting for Lydia then," Scott began speaking as we entered the office.

"Waiting to kill her?" Allison asked. I frowned and leaned against the desk.

"If he thinks she's the kanima, then yes, especially after what happened at the pool." Scott replied.

"It's not Lydia." I shook my head. "I mean we all know she can be pretty mean, but she's not a blood thirsty murderer." I told them.

"It's not her." Stiles said.

"Stiles, Emma, she didn't pass the test. Nothing happened." Scott replied.

"Well that test is for snakes, right?" I asked. "And from how you explained it, it seems more like a lizard. Plus, Lydia seems to be immune to everything, so?" I crossed my arms.

"Well, it doesn't matter because Derek thinks it's her." Allison replied, gazing at me and Stiles. "So either we convince him he's wrong or we've gotta figure out a way to protect her."

I nodded and began trying to think of an idea to convince Derek he was wrong. We could bring up the fact that even after being bitten by Peter she didn't become a werewolf. The bite didn't affect her, so maybe in the same way the venom from the kanima didn't affect her.

"I don't think he's gonna do anything here, not at school." Scott said.

"What about after school?" Allison asked.

"What if we could prove Derek's wrong?" I asked.

"By 3:00?" Stiles asked.

"Maybe there could be something in the bestiary." Allison spoke up.

"Oh, you mean the 900 page book written in archaic Latin that none of us can read? Good luck with that!" Stiles replied.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"Actually, I think I know somebody who can translate it." Allison replied.

"Uh, I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it's not her." Scott told us. "But if anything happens, you guys let me handle it, okay?" Scott told us, glancing over at Stiles and then me and then finishing on Allison.

"What does that mean?" Allison asked him.

"It means you can't heal like I do." Scott replied. "I just don't want you getting hurt."

I turned away from the conversation at that. As much as I loved my cousin and as much as I was beginning to really like Scott, I didn't want to hear their mushy couple talk. I stared down at my crossed ankles and at the pair of boots I'd decided to wear today. I crossed my arms over my chest and began to chew on my fingernail.

I glanced up, however when I heard Scott gasp in shock. I frowned in confusion when I saw him holding a miniature arrow in front of his face. I turned and saw Stiles holding one of the crossbows Allison and I carried in our purses for emergencies only. I raised an eyebrow at him as he apologized and handed the bow back to Allison.

I exited the office soon after our little meeting and headed towards the library. I walked down the hallway, minding my own business when a hand reached out and pulled me into an empty classroom. I gasped at first and then frowned up at the boy who was leaning over me.

"I don't want to talk to you." I told him, crossing my arms over my chest. "You're trying to kill my only female friend in this town." Isaac sighed and stepped away from me.

"She's the kanima, Emma, she killed my father." He told me, running a hand through his curly hair. I stepped forward, forcing him to back into a lab table.

"Then shouldn't you be thanking her?" I raised an eyebrow. "Isaac, I saw you that night, you were terrified."

He shook his head. "That doesn't change the fact that she killed him." He told me. "Look, I didn't bring you in here to talk about that. What's going on with you and Jackson?" he asked.

"Why does that matter?" I asked him, taking a step back.

"Because I need to know if you have a boyfriend before I do what I'm about to do." He told me.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend and what are you about to do?" I asked him, frowning in confusion. "I really have to get to class, Isaac and if my grandfather finds out I'm in here with you, you'll be dead before sixth peri-" I was cut off when his lips crashed against mine.

My eyes widened in surprise at first, but after a split second I responded, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting my eyes flutter closed. Kissing Isaac was a lot different than kissing Jackson.

When I kissed Jackson it was clearly all about the physical aspect of kissing. It was about pulling at each other's hair, biting each on the lip, fighting for dominance. Kissing Jackson was clearly non-emotional no matter how hard I tried to tell myself it wasn't.

Isaac, however, was a completely different story. I could almost feel everything he wanted to tell me just from the soft way his lips moved with mine. We weren't fighting for anything; we were just simply enjoying each other. This was how kissing was supposed to be. When he pulled away he placed his forehead against mine briefly and then he was gone. I let out a breath and stepped back until I was leaning against the wall, I slid down and brought my knees up to my chest.

Kissing Isaac was probably my new favorite thing in the world.


	9. cannonball

_Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth  
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt  
Still a little hard to say what's going on_

I hurried into the library a few minutes after Isaac left me in the classroom. I stopped abruptly, trying to pass by unnoticed, but failed when Danny smiled and waved me over to the table he was sitting at with Jackson. I threw on my most convincing smile and walked over to join them. I took the seat across from Danny and next to Jackson and leaned over and kissed the latter on the cheek. We mostly sat in silence, each studying our own thing when Matt came up and sat in the seat next to me.

"So, who do you know that can get into your house?" I frowned in confusion and glanced over at Jackson.

"What do you mean, like break in?" he asked.

"Or someone who has a key?" Matt suggested. "Who also knows how to edit out two hours of footage out of a tape and knows how to loop it."

"I can do it." Danny said. I glanced up at him and smiled, knowing that whatever was going on Danny was probably the least likely suspect. "I write my own software and I know your mom always forgets to lock the kitchen door."

"I could've done it too considering it's my camera." Matt told us.

I chewed on my lip and tapped my pen against my notebook, trying to force myself away from the conversation. I didn't want anything to do with this if it was going to get me in any unneeded trouble.

"Actually we could've done it together." Matt said to Danny. I glanced up and smirked at the nervous looking boy across the table from me and had to chew on my lip to stifle my laughter when he kicked my shin under the table.

"Alright, I gotta go to my next class, but I'll be back later to help if you guys want it." Matt said as he stood from the table. He glanced over at me and smiled charmingly. I smiled back and then glanced back down to my notebook.

"Definitely." Danny replied as Matt walked away.

When I was sure the other boy was far enough away that he wouldn't hear me I dropped my face down into my open textbook and laughed.

"What?" Danny asked, looking between me and Jackson.

"Got a little crush going on there?" Jackson asked.

"No." Jackson made a noise in protest. "Shut up." Danny defended. "It doesn't matter anyway." Danny told him.

"Why's that?" Jackson asked. I looked up too, curious as to why Danny's crush wouldn't matter.

"Because if you haven't noticed he's completely obsessed with Emma, so. Whatever." I frowned in confusion and glanced over to see Jackson's shocked expression. "Anyway this is going to take a couple of hours."

"So you can't tell me who did the editing?" Jackson asked, moving the topic back to whatever the heck they were talking about with Matt before.

"Is there anyone else you know who can get into your house?" Danny asked, glancing over at me from the corner of his eye. I help up my hands in surrender and turned my attention back to my school work.

The next few minutes were spent in almost silence as Jackson glared harshly off into the distance, obviously in his own little world. I didn't disturb him; instead I focused on the Latin homework I'd been putting off.

"So, Ems," I glanced up to see Danny smirking at me. "That Matt sure is interested in you." I rolled my eyes and ran a hand through my hair. "You should go for it, he's pretty hot."

"Please." Jackson scoffed. I glanced up to frown at him in confusion. "Why would you go after Matt when you've got me?" he asked with a smirk. He glanced over his shoulder to watch Lydia and Stiles at another table and I frowned.

"Do I?" I asked, drawing Jackson's attention back to me. He raised an eyebrow, asking me silently to elaborate. "Do I have you? Because it seems to me like you're still hung up on someone else." I explained as I gathered all of my stuff. "I have to get to class." I excused myself and walked away from the table.

"Emma." I was grabbed by the arm quickly by my cousin and dragged over to the table Lydia and Stiles were occupying.

A few moments later Jackson joined the group and made sure he stayed close by my side. I rolled my eyes at him, but turned my attention back to Allison as she explained that we were going to have a study group for the Economics midterm. Stiles grabbed Lydia's arm and began dragging her out of the library while Allison, Jackson, and I followed.

"If we're doing a study group, why didn't we just stay in the library?" Lydia asked while pulling her arm out of Stiles' grip.

"Because we're meeting up with somebody else." Stiles explained.

"Hmm, well why don't they just meet us in the library?" Lydia asked

"That would've been a great idea." Stiles replied. "Too late."

"Okay, hold on." Lydia stopped walking. Jackson stepped up from my side and gripped her arm.

"Lydia, shut up and walk." He began leading her outside and the three of us were forced to follow quickly.

I frowned at the two people leading the group and crossed my arms. Allison bumped me in the side and smiled apologetically, but I only shrugged in response. We walked outside and all climbed into Stiles' jeep. I didn't ask questions as to why we weren't taking mine or Allison's or Jackson's cars, but only climbed into the middle seat in the front in between Stiles and Allison.

The car ride was spent mostly in silence aside from mine and Allison's whispered conversation about the plan. I didn't like the part where we were going to most likely have to fight against Derek's pack, but if it meant protecting Lydia I'd have sacrifice whatever weird thing I had going on with Isaac.

I climbed out of the car quickly when we got to Scott's. I didn't want to be in a cramped space with Lydia and Jackson for much longer than what was necessary. Jackson climbed out and stood next to me. His hand brushed against mine, but I paid him no attention.

"If we're studying at Scott's house, then where's Scott?" Lydia was full of questions today.

I walked ahead of them and up the stairs as Stiles explained Scott's absence. When we got inside the three of us watched as Stiles dead bolted the door and peaked out of the curtains.

"There's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood." Stiles explained. "And a murder, it was bad. So…" Stiles nodded.

Allison looked across the group and gave Jackson a meaningful look and then nodded towards the other room.

"Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute." Jackson said as he began walking away from the front door.

"Seriously?" Lydia sighed as she followed Jackson down the hallway. "What is going on with everyone?"

I crossed my arms over my abdomen and leaned against the wall next to the doorway. Stiles looked up and the two of us shared an equally annoyed look. Stiles was annoyed because he obviously had feelings for Lydia. I was annoyed because I didn't know if I had feelings for Jackson. A few minutes later, Stiles stood up straight and looked over at Allison.

"They're here." She nodded and grabbed for his phone. She called Scott quickly and waited for him to answer.

"It's me." she explained. "You need to get over here, now." She explained as I looked over Stiles' shoulder at the approaching figures.

The three of us waited in silence for Scott to get to the house as Derek and his three betas moved even closer to the house. I chewed on my lip and watched in silence as Boyd faced Derek and spoke to him. I moved my gaze across the group and pulled myself away from the window in surprise when my eyes met Isaac's.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked. I looked over to see Allison with her phone in her hand.

"I think I have to call my dad." She told us. I frowned and moved away from the windows and over to my purse. I reached in and grabbed the portable crossbow that went every with me and unfolded it. I doubted that I would use it on anyone, but it was good to be prepared.

"No, but if he finds you here, you and Scott." Stiles tried to convince her not to call.

"I know." Allison nodded. "But what are we supposed to do?" she asked.

"They're not here to scare us." I told them as I stepped closer and looked out of the window. "They're here to kill Lydia." Allison glanced down at her phone and dropped her hand. "So we do exactly what we came here to do." I looked between the both of them. "We protect her."

"I got an idea." I glanced up to stare at Stiles. "Shoot one of them." Stiles nodded towards the crossbows we held.

"Are you serious?" Allison and I asked in unison.

"We told Scott we could protect ourselves." Stiles explained. "So let's do it. At least give it a shot, right?" he looked between the two of us.

"Okay." Allison agreed.

"What?" I stepped closer to my cousin. "Allison, are you crazy? We can't shoot one of them!" I tried to get her to pull away from the window, but she held her ground.

"They're don't think we're gonna fight, so if one of them gets hit I guarantee they'll take off." Stiles told me.

"Or we'll just piss them off?" I replied, crossing my arms and keeping my crossbow close to my body.

"Just shoot one of them." Stiles told Allison, completely ignoring me.

"Which one?" Allison asked.

"Are you both going to ignore how completely crazy this idea is?" I asked, stepping back from the door.

"Uh…Derek, preferably in the head." Stiles told her.

They began bickering back and forth over who to shoot as I stood, staring at them like they were crazy.

"Where the hell is Isaac?" Stiles asked. I looked up after hearing the name and stepped forward to see only Erica and Boyd at Derek's side. I stepped back from the window and closer to Stiles while holding my crossbow in a tighter grip.

The next thing I knew Allison was on the ground and Stiles quickly joined her. I glanced up in shock at Isaac who stared back down at me. I knew he didn't want to, but he was practically forced to disarm me and throw me down to the ground. I stared up at him angrily and moved closer to Allison.

Allison and I quickly helped each other up off of the floor while Isaac was paying more attention to Stiles.

"Lydia." I whispered almost silently to my cousin. She nodded and left me to go and convince Lydia to stay hidden.

I tried hard to pry Stiles away from Isaac, but was only thrown back onto the floor by the werewolf. I glared harshly and picked myself up, diving for my crossbow just in time to save it from being stomped on by Isaac.

"Stiles, Emma!" I heard Allison shout. "It's here!" I froze and turned to look over my shoulder at the general area where my cousin's voice had come from.

I turned around quickly and aimed my crossbow at Erica, who only smirked back at me.

"Oh look, its Isaac's play thing." I glared back at her while she stalked closer to me. "You're not actually gonna shoot me are you Ems?" she asked with a playful pout.

"I'm thinking about it." I replied.

Erica only plowed through me, forcing me back onto the ground and headed towards Allison. I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach.

"That has got to stop happening." I complained. I looked up to see a hand being held out to me. I smiled gratefully up at Stiles while he pulled me onto my feet.

The two of us watched while Scott took care of Isaac and knocked him out easily. He went off to his room and gathered Erica from the floor and then threw both of the betas out onto the front yard. The four of us stepped out onto the front porch and looked over to Derek.

"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott." Derek said. "You're not an omega. You're already an alpha, of your own pack." Allison, Stiles, and I looked at each other and then returned our gazes back out to Derek. "But you know you can't beat me." Derek smirked.

"I can hold you off until the cops get here." Scott replied and I found myself smirking down at my shoes. Thank God for Lydia Martin.

Our attention was turned to the roof, though, when we heard a hissing noise. I frowned in confusion and moved out onto the yard with the others to see the kanima crouched on the roof of Scott's house. It turned its head and screeched at us before diving off of the roof and running away.

"Oh my god." I whispered to myself. Sure, everyone else had told what the kanima was like, but this was my first experience actually seeing it.

"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" I glanced up and frowned when I saw Lydia standing in the doorway demanding answers.

"But that means…" I glanced up to stare at the spot where the kanima had just been.

"It's Jackson." Scott said.

"No." I shook my head. Everyone turned to me and frowned, but I didn't need their pity right now. I shook my head and walked back into Scott's house. I grabbed my bag and then pushed past Lydia and the others and began walking back towards the school.

"Emma!" I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. "Emma you can't just walk out there alone when he's around!" I stopped and glared over my shoulder at Stiles. "Look, we're all upset that it's Jackson, but that doesn't change the fact that he's been killing people." he made sure to whisper the last part to me so that Lydia didn't overhear.

"I'm going back to the school. I'm getting in my car and I'm going home." I told him.

"Let me drive you?" he asked, stepping closer to me. "We need to figure out what our game plan is and we need to find out if there's a way that we can fix Jackson so that he doesn't have to die." I nodded, Stiles was making a lot more sense than just walking out into the night and hoping I didn't get killed by my not quite boyfriend. I followed him back into Scott's house and then climbed into the jeep with Lydia and Allison. Stiles drove us to the school and then we split up into our separate cars to drive home.


	10. never was a story of more woe

_Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,  
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,  
Take him and cut him out in little stars,  
And he will make the face of heaven so fine  
That all the world will be in love with night  
And pay no worship to the garish sun._

"Okay, I'm taking Lydia home and then I'll be there." Allison told me. I chewed on my lip and nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me as I closed the door to my dad's car and then walked into the house.

"Emma, can you come in here please?" I heard my mother request from the kitchen. I sighed and told Allison that I had to go.

"Be careful, Em." Allison warned just before I hung up the call.

I walked into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at my parents. Both of them were sitting at the island together on bar stools and faced towards the doorway that I had just walked through. My mother was clutching a mug in her hands so tightly that I could see her knuckles turning white. I stepped forward and over to the other side of the island.

"Where've you been?" my dad asked me casually. I knew just as well as he did that the next thing I was going to say would be important to all of us.

"At Lydia's." I replied, glancing between my parents. "We were studying for the Economics midterm tomorrow." I told them while crossing my arms over my abdomen and clutching my jacket closer to myself. "Speaking of which, I should probably head to bed." I smiled. "I want to be well rested."

I turned to leave the kitchen and only got to the corner of the counter before my father's voice stopped me.

"Before you go!" I turned to look at him, but didn't move from where I was standing. "Your mother and I have something important to tell you." He hesitated to finish, glancing over at my mother as if asking her to tell me instead.

I nodded for him to continue, but was forced to wait a few moments while the two of them had a silent conversation with their eyes. I sighed and leaned against the counter. I could feel my phone vibrating from my back pocket and knew it was probably pretty important if someone was calling me this late.

"We're moving back to San Francisco." My mother finally said while turning from glaring at my father to smiling bashfully at me.

I froze and stood up straight, no longer leaning against the counter for support. Weeks ago, when we'd first come to Beacon Hills if my parents had told me we were going back to San Francisco, I would've been thrilled. Things had changed, though. Things had drastically changed.

My mother started babbling happily about how I would get to go back to school with all of my friends and how we'd move back into the old house. We would no longer have to be living with the rest of the family and I could have my own bathroom again.

"Oh and it's not one-hundred percent, but your dad and I have been talking, and…" my mom smiled. "We think it's time you got your own car!" she beamed at me.

I only stared back at her in silence. My mom's smile slowly turned into a confused frown. She didn't understand why I wasn't happier about this news. I turned to stare at my dad, who only stared back at me. My father was supposed to always be on my side, he always had been. Why was he not able to see that moving again was the last thing I wanted to do?

"Can I go now?" I asked them, looking down at my shoes and refusing to make eye contact with my very confused parents.

"Of course, sweetheart." My mother didn't finish her sentence before I was out of the kitchen and making my way up the stairs.

I could hear them talking quietly from the kitchen, wondering what was wrong with me. I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with me too as I closed the door to my room and leaned against it. I slowly slid down and sat on the floor with my back against the door. I stared at the room in front of me and made sure to take in everything.

This room felt more like home than San Francisco ever had. Everything in San Francisco was so big, so crazy. Sure, Beacon Hills had its own crazy, but it was something so incredibly its own. I loved the crazy surrounding me in this small town. Being afraid for my life 24/7 was a little inconvenient at times, but I could handle that if it meant I got to be with people I actually enjoyed being with every day.

Allison was my best friend in the world. We'd always been much more than just cousins and I don't think I could be without her again. Ever since we were born we only ever went a few months at most away from each other. When she moved to Beacon Hills without me, my heart had broken. My parents just assumed I was being over dramatic and refused to let me come up with Aunt Kate when she came to Beacon Hills to help with the werewolf situation. It was supposed to be a simple job and Uncle Chris didn't need to have to worry about me too.

Not only would I be leaving Allison, but all of the other friends I'd made in Beacon Hills. I'd be leaving Lydia, one of the only people to ever understand my obsession with school and the fashion world. It didn't make any sense for Lydia to accept me as her friend, not after I started my whatever Jackson and I were, but she had. I'd have to say goodbye to Stiles, my fellow human and partner in crime. Stiles was one of the greatest people I'd ever met and I knew I would never find someone as loyal as him, no matter where I went. There was Scott, who was probably the greatest thing to have ever happened to my cousin, whether she believed it or not.

Then there was Jackson. As much as I knew he and I weren't really a couple and as much as I knew that what we had wasn't emotional, I'd still miss him. I could see myself being friends with Jackson, because behind all of the cocky comments and the rudeness, I knew he was so much more than that. He was a boy desperately in love with a girl. I hoped that he could survive all of this kanima drama and be with Lydia again.

I buried my face into my knees and took a deep breath, but flinched when I heard a knock against my window. I turned my head and my eyes widened in surprise when I saw Isaac crouched beside my window with a timid smile. I stood quickly and opened the window. I grabbed his hand and forcefully pulled him into the room. I glanced out of the window and looked around; making sure that none of the other windows in the house had a direct line to my window. I frowned at a curtain moving across the house and quickly closed my window and the curtains around it. I turned around and saw Isaac casually leaning against the wall across from me with his arms crossed and a smirk spread across his lips.

"Are you insane?" I whispered to him while moving across the room and to the door.

Just as I reached the door I heard my father call out to me from the hallway. I turned to glare at Isaac, who only remained smirking back at me in response. I rolled my eyes and opened the door just enough to peak my head out.

"Are you alright, sweetheart? We heard a bump." My father raised an eyebrow at me from across the landing at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped over my bed post. No big deal." I smiled as reassuringly as possible.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "I know how clumsy you can be." He took a tiny step forward.

"Seriously, dad, I'm fine." I smiled and then slipped back into my room.

"Emmeline!" I huffed in annoyance and rolled my eyes at a snickering Isaac and then popped my head back out of the door. "You know, your mother and I are only doing this for your own safety." He told me with a small smile. "Beacon Hills…it's not, it's not an ideal place to raise a teenager."

I nodded along, but couldn't really focus on what my father was saying to me while there was a werewolf in my bedroom.

"I love you, Emmy." He smiled and then turned and walked down the stairs. I made sure he was gone before slipping back into my room and glaring at Isaac.

He stood up fully from leaning against the wall and slowly made his way towards me from across the room. I stepped back as he stepped forward and found myself pressed against the wall and Isaac standing in front of me. I was forced to crane my neck up to look at him and raised an eyebrow at the small smile on his face.

"Emmy is a cute nickname." He told me, whispering as he leaned closer to me. I chewed on my lip, refusing to give him any reaction as he leaned in and pressed his face into my neck.

"Why are you here?" I asked him, moving my neck a fraction away from him. Isaac stood up again and looked down at me. "If they knew you were in here, they wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

Isaac leaned forward and put his two hands on either side of my head. "That sounds almost like you're worried about me, Emma." He smiled. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"As if it weren't already obvious, Isaac." I replied as I gently pushed him away with a hand on his chest. Instead of moving, he moved his hands to clutch my own against his chest.

"Actually it isn't." he said, glancing up from our hands to look into my eyes. "Are you worried about me?" he asked.

I stared back at him and marveled at how different he was in that moment. He'd always been kind of different around me. He wasn't the smirking, leather jacket wearing, beta werewolf that everyone else saw him as. Instead, he was the shy, grave digger, who was abused by his father. I moved my other hand from my side and joined it with my other on his chest as I looked up at him.

"Always." I replied as I stepped closer to him. "Isaac, I always worry about you." I told him honestly.

He nodded and then stared down at me intensely. I waited in anticipation, wondering just what his next move was going to be. I wasn't disappointed when he started to lean in closer to me. I fluttered my eyes closed and leaned in as well. Just before our lips met, my bedroom door was forced open. I gasped and my eyes flew open to see Allison standing in the doorway, frozen and staring at the two of us.

"Oh my god." she gaped. I rolled my eyes at her and pulled myself away from Isaac. I walked over and pulled Allison into my room and then closed the door behind her, making sure to turn the lock this time.

I glanced back to see Isaac run a hand through his hair and smile at Allison sheepishly. I turned back to my cousin and smiled. I shrugged at her. "You're not the only one in a weird Romeo and Juliet situation."

"Yeah, but my Romeo doesn't come to the house!" Allison whispered harshly, glancing between me and Isaac. "He knows that the _five _skilled hunters in the house would kill him immediately."

I shrugged and glanced back at Isaac. "I tried to tell you." I told him and then looked back to my cousin.

"Whatever, just be careful when you leave." Allison shook her head. "Emma, we need to talk as soon as you can." She gave me a meaningful look and I knew it probably had something to do with what happened tonight. I nodded at her and locked the door after she left.

I turned back to Isaac and then walked over to sit down on my bed. He followed a few moments later and chewed on his lip. I watched him, waiting for him to say whatever it was he had on his mind.

"I'm sorry for tonight." I glanced up at him curiously. "For throwing you down like that." I nodded. "It's just, when I get like that…when I change, sometimes I can't think straight, and I saw you and I immediately thought you were a threat, and I-" I interrupted him by leaning over and pressing my lips to his.

It took Isaac a moment to react, but when he did he leaned closer and placed a hand on my neck, pulling me ever so gently closer into him. I pulled away first and smiled at him.

"Apology accepted." He smiled back at me and nodded, and then turned to look down at his hands. "You should probably leave soon." I told him. "I imagine Derek won't be excited when he sees you and realizes that you've been here." I frowned.

"Yeah." Isaac nodded and then stood from my bed. I followed him quickly to the window and chewed on my lip. "I'll see you soon." He told me with a small smile. I nodded and looked up at him. Isaac leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Bye Juliet." He whispered with a small smirk.

Before I could react he was already out the window and running away from the house. I rolled my eyes and closed the window and the curtains again. I stepped back and then turned to go see what Allison wanted. I stepped out of my room and glanced up to see Gerard standing at the end of the hallway. He smiled at me and then walked into his room and I wondered how long he'd been standing there. I quickly went into Allison's room and closed the door behind me.

I walked into the room and fell down onto her bed. I stared up at the ceiling with a tiny smile and then turned onto my side to meet my cousin's curious gaze and wide smirk. I rolled my eyes and pressed my face into one of her pillows, trying to hide my smile.

"He totally gave you one of those mind-blowing werewolf kisses." Allison teased as she moved from the chair next to her window and over onto the bed with me. I groaned into the pillow as she laughed.

**With Gerard, Chris, & Max. **

Chris Argent quickly exited the car and began firing rounds into the kanima. Max followed his older brother closely and did the same. When the creature fell Max turned back to the car to inform his father that the coast was clear while Chris stepped forward and searched the area for Derek Hale.

Max turned back, though, after hearing the clicking sound of a gun with no ammo. His eyes widened when the kanima forcefully kicked his brother in the chest, sending him flying back and into a concrete pole. Max held up his own gun, but didn't shoot as Gerard walked from the car and over to the kanima. He watched in surprise as the creature only stared back at his father.

Before the younger Argent could tell his father to move, however, Scott McCall knocked into the creature and forced it away from Gerard. Max watched in silence as Scott turned to stare at Gerard and then run after the kanima. He shook himself out of his stupor and moved quickly over to Chris's side.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to them.

"Fine, Max." Chris replied as he winced and moved to stand up. The younger of the two brothers offered his arm and helped his brother to stand and then dropped it when they turned to join their father.


	11. thirty lives

_I know it's been a while since  
I could look you in the eyes  
cause I am foolish and I'm sorry  
but sorry never made it feel alright  
alright_

**With Gerard, Chris, & Max. **

Max waited patiently from the backseat as his brother moved towards the club. He sat in silence, not knowing what to say to his father after what he witnessed with the kanima. Chris returned from talking with an officer and got into the car.

"Seven paralyzed." He told them with a sigh. "The rumor is drugs, probably hallucinogens, since witnesses say they saw a demonic monster on the dance floor." Chris explained.

Max shook his head and looked down to his joined hands. He glanced up, however when his father began speaking.

"Now who would believe something like that?" he asked.

Max didn't care, quite frankly whether someone would believe the cover story the cops were using. As long as the average people of Beacon Hills didn't become aware of what his family did or who they had to kill to do it, he was fine with whatever crazy stories were told.

"You know what I'm having trouble believing?" Chris asked. "How you just stood there while that thing circled you and did nothing."

Max perked up at this. As the middle child of three, he'd always been quieter about his uneasiness with his father. Chris never hesitated to tell his father when he disagreed with what Gerard said or did and Kate had always been the prized child. Kate could do no wrong, no matter what. Even when she killed a house full of innocent people, Gerard continued to dote on her. It also never mattered how many times Gerard had to fight with Chris; he was still the oldest and still the favorite son. Max had lost that competition the moment he decided not to force his daughter and only child into training to become a hunter.

"You want to explain that to me?" Chris asked, glancing over at their father in the passenger seat.

"Intuition." Gerard replied easily.

"Then you know what it is." Max replied, finally speaking up.

"I have a suspicion," Gerard replied, glancing back at Max over his shoulder. "And if I'm right, it plays by certain rules, rules that don't bend easily."

Max watched in silence as his father pulled out the circular case he'd been carrying everywhere with him ever since he got to Beacon Hills. Various pills spilled out onto his father's palm and then were forced down his throat.

"Do we need to put a hold on Derek to figure this thing out?" Chris asked.

"Not necessarily." Gerard replied. "Tonight's the first time you had a glimpse of him since Kate died, right?" he asked. Max flinched at the name of his baby sister.

"Unfortunately." Chris replied.

"And the only other tie we have to him is Isaac Lahey." Max frowned, knowing that this Isaac boy was important to Emma. Even if she hadn't said it outright, her efforts to save his life the night of his first full moon were evidence enough.

"What are you thinking?" Max asked, needing to know if the target on Isaac's back was even bigger than before.

"That if this thing bothers Derek enough to bring him out of his little hole, then we might have an opportunity." Gerard told them. "What did I teach you is the best way to eliminate a threat?" Gerard asked them.

"Get someone to do it for you." Both Argent brothers replied in unison.

**With Emma & Allison. **

I laughed and rolled over onto my back. Allison tried to contain her own laughter and shook her head. We heard a soft knock on the door and I sat up quickly, straightening myself out as Allison went to answer it.

"Hey Aunt Gemma." I could hear the smile in Allison's voice as she greeted my mother. "And mom." She added on.

I stood from the bed and walked over to stand behind Allison. My mother was standing in the doorway and Allison's mom was standing just behind her, both were smiling at the two of us.

"We thought maybe we could have a girls' night in?" my mom offered with a smile. "You two have an important exam tomorrow and you could use a little break from studying."

"That is, assuming that you've actually been studying in here with all of that giggling." Aunt Victoria smiled knowingly at the two of us.

I managed to smile bashfully and look down while Allison nodded back at them. "Sure, of course." She agreed. I stepped forward and followed my cousin out of her bedroom while our mothers led us down stairs.

"So, we've got movies and dinner and for later," my mom smirked lifting up a plate full of cookies.

It was terribly obvious that my mother was more interested in this entire thing than Allison, Aunt Victoria, and me. The three of us smiled and nodded, agreeing with basically whatever my mother said just to keep her happy. It was a perfect routine we'd been working on for sixteen years.

"I have a surprise for you, Emma!" my mom smiled brightly. I raised an eyebrow at her while she rooted through a bag on the couch in the living room. She stood up fully and showed off the DVD in her hand. "Pride and Prejudice!" she beamed.

I smiled in response and moved towards her, grasping at the DVD in her hands. I looked down at the cover and smiled at Keira Knightley's familiar face. I had to admit that she couldn't have picked a better film to get me in her good graces. I looked up and smiled appreciatively at my mother and then turned on my heel to go back into the kitchen for food.

Hours later Allison and I headed back up the stairs to go to bed. We stopped at her door and I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"They want to move back to San Francisco." I told her quietly. Allison frowned back at me.

"You can't let them do that!" she insisted. I nodded. "You don't want to leave, do you?" she asked, sounding a little hurt at the idea of me leaving. I shook my head and stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her.

"God no, that's the last thing I want to do." I told her.

"Good, because I'm afraid of what will happen if you do." I pulled away from her and frowned down at the floor. "Emma, they have to know that you can't go back there. You have to tell them why."

"I can't just tell my parents that moving back to their dream house is a mistake because I might kill myself." I replied gesturing wildly with my arms. Allison frowned at me and crossed her arms. "Allie, it was a year ago. I've moved on." She raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing me.

"Emmeline, that place is full of bad memories. It could be a trigger and I don't want to lose you for good this time." She told me.

I could tell that she was only concerned, but it annoyed me that she was bringing this up. I nodded in response and moved away from her bedroom. I walked down the hallway to my own room and glanced back to see her staring at me. I smiled timidly at her and then stepped into my room.

The next morning I woke up earlier than usual and began getting ready for school. I straightened my usually curly dark hair and pushed a headband behind my ears, forcing my bangs back. I swept on simple make up, keeping my usual winged eye liner and mascara. I hopped around my room, pulling my tight dark-washed jeans up and buttoned them. I exhaled and nodded down at my legs and then moved to my closet to pick out a shirt to wear. I decided on a nearly sheer black top that buttoned in the front with three quarter sleeves. I pulled on a black tank top over my lacey bra and then buttoned on the shirt.

"Hey, can I borrow your plaid jacket?" Allison asked from the doorway of my room. I turned to look at her over my shoulder and nodded towards the closet. She passed me as I pulled my long hair out of the shirt and messed it a little. "You're up early today." Allison commented as she rooted through my closet, searching for the jacket she wanted.

"Yeah, I don't know, I woke up without my alarm or anything." I shrugged. "Strange."

I left her alone in my room and headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. My mom was sitting at her usual place on a bar stool with a mug in her hands. I smiled at her in greeting and filled my own travel mug with coffee.

"Have you worked out at all since we've been here?" my mom asked, glancing up at me from the magazine in front of her. I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not saying that you're fat, don't be ridiculous." I smiled back at her. "I'm just asking, in case you ever need to defend yourself or run from something." She shrugged.

"No, I haven't." I told her as I leaned against the counter. "I'll make sure that I start up again, though." I stood and grabbed the mug. "I promise." I called back to her as I grabbed my red leather jacket from the coat hanger as well as the keys to my dad's car.

I walked into school after parking my car in the same spot next to Allison's. I turned in the combination to my locker and exchanged the books I'd taken home the night before for the ones I'd need for my first few morning classes.

"Hey." I jumped in surprise and turned to smile at Lydia, who was opening her own locker right next to mine.

"Hey." I replied as I closed my locker and leaned against it.

"Emma, can I ask you a question?" Lydia asked as she leaned against her own locker and looked up at me. I nodded slowly, wondering just what she needed to ask me that she couldn't ask Allison. "What's going on here?" I raised an eyebrow. "I mean, no one tells me anything and I'm starting to get a little freaked out." I sighed and opened my mouth to explain to her why she was being kept in the dark when I was interrupted by my name being called over the intercom.

"Emmeline Argent to the principal's office, please. Emmeline Argent to the principal's office." I frowned in confusion and then glanced up to see Lydia frowning as well.

"We'll talk later, I promise." I told her as I turned around and headed towards the office.

Just as I was reaching for the door it opened and Allison exited. She gave me a meaningful look and then passed me to continue to class. I frowned, but shrugged and walked into my grandfather's office.

"You called for me?" I smiled timidly. Gerard glanced up and nodded and then gestured towards the chair in front of his desk. "Am I in trouble or something?" I asked him as I sat down.

"Oh, no of course not." He shook his head. "Unless of course you've done something to cause you to be in trouble?" he raised an eyebrow. I shook my head with a small smile and waited for him to continue.

"Did you know that Jackson Whittemore didn't come to school today?" he asked me. I frowned and shook my head, genuinely confused over this new information.

If Jackson hadn't come to school and Gerard was asking me about it, clearly he didn't know where the teenager was. If Gerard didn't know where Jackson was then that left only a few possible people who did know.

"His parents called the school this morning as well as the police." I glanced up, even more confused than I had been before. "Do you know where he is, Emma?" I raised an eyebrow. "I know that you and Jackson had some kind of relationship-"I shook my head quickly and smiled bashfully.

"Oh, no sir, that ended." I smiled. It was a little white lie, because while technically I no longer harbored feelings for the boy, I'd never actually had the 'we're breaking up even though we're not dating' talk with him.

"Has it?" he asked. I nodded to him response. "What a shame, he seemed like a nice young man." I smiled to him and nodded.

"We agreed to remain friends, so it wasn't that big of a deal." I told him.

"Emmeline," Gerard stood from the desk and began pacing around the office. "In this lifestyle, you become used to people lying to you." I tried not to react, not wanting to give him any more incentive to believing I was lying to him. "I just have to assume and trust, that my own granddaughter would never lie to me; even if it meant protecting one of her friends." He stopped pacing and stood behind the chair I was sitting in.

Ever so slowly Gerard reached forward and gently touched my neck, right where my pulse could be felt. I took a deep breath, calming my heartbeat to a normal level and waited.

"Do you know where Jackson is?" he asked. I told him I didn't. "Hmm, it seems as if you weren't lying after all." I turned my head to look up at him.

"I couldn't lie to you, grandpa." I replied with a sweet smile.

"I'm sorry that I had to do that, sweetheart." He told me with a smile as I stood. "You can go to class." I nodded and then stepped out of the office.

I let out a breath as soon as I knew I was far enough away from him and headed into my next class. I stopped abruptly, however, when I saw my aunt standing at the front of the classroom.

"Emma." She smiled pleasantly. "You're late." I frowned, still completely confused as to why my aunt was standing in front of me. I turned and raised an eyebrow at Allison, who only shrugged in response.

"Um, yeah, I was with grand-"I stopped myself. "I was with the principal." I told her. She nodded and then nodded towards my seat in front of Allison.

I quickly moved down the aisle and sat in front of my cousin. When my aunt turned her back to us and faced the chalkboard I turned in my seat to meet Allison's equally as wide eyes. She shrugged again and I turned to see Scott, stiff as a board in the seat across the aisle from me. I smiled at him encouragingly and nodded, to show my support.

Thankfully, the bell rang and we were able to escape the weirdness that surrounded the classroom. I hurried out of the room with my head down, but stopped when I heard my aunt call out for her daughter. I turned to look at Allison over my shoulder and smiled in apology at her, before being rushed out of the classroom by the other students.

As I was walking down the hallway, I glanced up and noticed a camera pointed towards me and the other students. I frowned in confusion up at it and continued walking, only to notice another camera just a few feet down. I chewed on my lip and shook my head and then went outside to my car. I had a free period for the last class of the day and decided to head home instead of staying in the library.

I felt my phone buzzing from my back pocket and pulled it out while also digging through my bag for my keys. I unlocked my car and my phone at the same time and raised an eyebrow at the new message from Stiles.

_Study group at my house tonight. _

I rolled my eyes at the code words and had to rack through my brain to try and remember what that meant. Studying always meant that we needed to deal with werewolf drama. Studying at Stiles' house meant it had something to do with him and tonight meant right now. I quickly typed back a response, asking him for a time that I should come over. The text Stiles sent back would've looked like a random time to anyone else reading it, but I knew that they were coordinates to a specific location. I rolled my eyes and entered the coordinates into the GPS in the car.

I tapped my fingers lazily on the steering wheel and waited for the GPS to figure out just where I was just trying to go. I jumped in surprise when the GPS beeped at me and looked to see that I was being led to the middle of the woods somewhere.

"Why can't we ever just hang out at someone's house like we say we are?" I asked as I reversed out of my parking spot and began driving towards the forest.

I had to ditch the car eventually and continue walking on foot. I glared down at my clean pair of shoes getting unnecessarily dirty in the leaves.

"This better be freaking important, Stilinski." I told the boy as I walked up and saw him leaning against a police van. I raised an eyebrow at him and crossed my arms. "Do I even want to know?" I asked.

"I need you to talk to Jackson." He told me, nodding his head to the van. My eyes widened and I moved closer to the van. "Oh, um, yeah he tried to kill Danny last night, so we put him in here." I sighed and opened the back of the van.

"Emma?" Jackson seemed genuinely surprised to see me as I climbed in and shut the doors and a very curious Stiles behind me. "Thank God you're here, you've gotta get me out of this." he told me.

I leaned forward and let him out of the cuffs easily and then took a seat across from him on the other bench. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at Jackson as he rubbed at his wrists.

"What?" he asked, looking up at me with a confused expression. I only raised my eyebrow. "Oh, don't tell me you believe all of this stupid lizard stuff too?" he asked as he groaned and threw his head back.

"Yes, I believe it." I told him, sitting up straight. "I saw you last night, Jackson. There were only six people in that house." I leaned forward. "Four of us were on the porch, one was on the roof and the other was freaking out because she had no idea what the hell was going on." He sighed and leaned back from me. "Care to guess who was who?" I asked as I leaned back as well.

"Whatever, can we just not talk about this now?" he asked, shaking his head. I sighed and nodded my head.

"So you and Lydia, huh?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He frowned in confusion. "Oh come on, Jackson, nobody stays in a room alone with their ex for that long without something other than talking happening." I told him, shaking my head.

"Okay, so maybe we did do something other than talking." He told me. "You aren't mad?" I shook my head. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because I never actually saw us as anything more than two people making out in the back of my car." I told him. "You're a fantastic guy, Jackson, but we both know that we don't feel anything other than attraction for each other."

He nodded slowly to show that he agreed. "So, I'm pulling out of whatever this is, especially considering your scale-y little problem." I smirked. He rolled his eyes and groaned again and then perked up and leaned against the wall of the van.

"What?" I asked as his eyes widened.

"The cops are on their way." He told me. "You have to leave." He reached forward and tried to push me out of the van. "Emma, if they find you here you'll get in serious trouble." I frowned in confusion just as the doors were wrenched open.

Stiles was huffing as he gestured wildly for me to get out of the back of the van. I turned and quickly put the cuffs back onto Jackson's wrists. I smiled apologetically at him afterwards and then kissed his cheek. I climbed out of the van and closed the door and was practically dragged through the leaves into the front seat where Allison was waiting patiently.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I glanced between the two of them.

"Somewhere very far away from this." Stiles replied quickly as he dialed a phone that looked a lot like Jackson's and then threw it out of the window. Before I could react over the phone Stiles pressed his foot onto the gas and started driving the van.

Stiles drove a good distance and then parked the van when he deemed the spot far enough away from where we were before. I climbed out of the van and leaned against the side of it while Stiles called and told Scott where we were. Not long after we got there, Scott came running towards us. The four of us walked away from the van and towards the cliff edge while discussing what we were going to do with Jackson.

"If Jackson doesn't remember being the kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet." Scott told us.

"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked.

"What if someone else took it?" Allison asked.

"Then someone else knows what he is." I replied, running a hand through my hair exasperatingly.

"Which could mean someone's protecting him." Scott added, looking between the three of us.

"Like the bestiary says, the kanima seeks a friend, right?" Allison asked. I frowned and chewed on my lip, crossing my arms and trying to figure out what that could mean.

"Okay, hold on." Stiles started. "So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the kanima and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know?" Stiles asked, trying to make sense of the possible "friend's" actions. "I mean, who would do that?" I nodded, looking down at my feet.

"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" I asked, looking up at everyone else.

"There's something else," Scott said. "You said the only thing you found online about the kanima is that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?" Scott asked, looking over at Stiles.

"Well, no, it can't be." Stiles replied. "It tried to kill all of us, remember?" Stiles gestured between the group. "I don't know about you three, but I haven't murdered anybody lately."

"I don't think he as trying to kill us." I spoke up, shaking my head. "I mean, I was scared, yeah, but I didn't feel threatened by it."

I thought back to seeing the kanima the night before. It hadn't even tried to attack us. All it did was hiss and then ran away. From the stories the others had told me of their interactions with kanima it didn't seem like it had tried to kill them either.

"The first time you were at Isaac's," I glanced between Allison and Scott. "It just went right by you, it didn't attack or anything, right?" I looked at them. Allison and Scott nodded. "And at the mechanic's garage," I turned to Stiles. "It didn't kill you, it left you there."

"Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me and Derek in the pool." Stiles replied.

"Did it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It would've," Stiles replied, starting to get defensive and grasping at strings to find a reason for Jackson to be guilty. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "It was waiting for us to come out." Stiles exclaimed.

"What if it was trying to keep you in?" Scott asked. I glanced over at him and nodded, further proving my point that the kanima wasn't actually trying to kill any of us.

"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles asked, glancing between me and Scott.

"Because there's something else going on." I replied.

Scott nodded and continued speaking for me, "We don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson or why someone's protecting him."

"Know thy enemy." Allison interrupted. I glanced up at her in surprise. "Just something my grandfather said." I nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Sometimes Gerard just busted out in random quotes from The Art of War. I'd gotten used to it.

"All right, I got it." Stiles said. I turned to him, waiting for him to tell his big plan. "Kill Jackson. Problem solved." He smiled.

I shook my head, crossing my arms and glaring at the boy in front of me. "Are you crazy?" I asked. I wondered how many times I'd asked that exact question since moving to Beacon Hills. The number probably reached a comical level at this point.

"He risked his life for us." Scott told him. "Against Peter, do you remember that?"

I sighed and turned away from them. I headed back to the van, not wanting to talk about what happened before I came to Beacon Hills and about the possibility of killing Jackson. I reached the van soon enough and leaned against the side. I didn't want to get in the van with Jackson because I didn't want to face him if he had heard everything we just said. With his weird kanima hearing, odds were that he could.

I flinched when I heard the words 'He has nobody'. It was too long ago someone was saying that about me. I glanced up and wondered if Jackson could hear that. I hoped he couldn't. Nothing hurt worse than someone pointing out the thing you were most self-conscious about.


	12. disappear

_every time I close my eyes  
I want to disappear with you  
and I hope you want to disappear, too_

"This is getting ridiculous." I ran a hand through my hair and stared at my cousin's werewolf boyfriend as he paced in front of me.

Allison had gone to get her car and Stiles had gone with her to get mine. Stiles got back sooner than Allie did and then headed back out into the forest to go to his own car and talk to Lydia. I rolled my eyes when he'd explained his plans, Lydia had complained for ages to me about how Stiles had promised to talk to her and then left her alone in her car.

Considering Allison still wasn't back and Stiles was currently trying to woo Lydia, I was alone with Scott and a still pretty angry Jackson.

Scott stopped pacing and turned to look at me, "Allison will be back soon."

I wasn't sure if he was only just guessing my cousin's whereabouts or if he actually knew she was on her way back. I could never really tell when it came to the teen werewolves running around town. I nodded and looked down at my crossed ankles.

"I'm going to talk to him." I decided. Scott raised an eyebrow, but made no move to stop me as I rounded to the back of the van and opened the door. Jackson glanced up at me when I entered and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't want to sit in awkward silence with Allison's ex for any longer." I explained myself.

I sat across from him like I had before and intertwined my hands. I lay them down in my lap and stared right back at Jackson, waiting patiently for him to make the first move to speak. He only stared back at me with that blank Jackson look.

"I've never really had friends." I wasn't sure where it came from, but I felt like deep down the only person to ever understand my innermost turmoil would probably be the boy handcuffed in the pack of a police van. "Before I got to Beacon Hills, I was always just the girl with the parents who were never around and the cousin who was really pretty."

I chewed on my lip as memories from San Francisco started flashing before my eyes. I'd wanted nothing more than to forget all of the horrible things that had happened to me when I lived there, but it seemed like even moving away from the city couldn't help me.

I glanced back up to see Jackson watching me curiously, "Go on." He encouraged me as he moved his gaze down to his wrists and the metal handcuffs.

"I was fifteen. The only person in the world who even seemed to care about me was my cousin. I was alone in a big city and I started to lose myself." I twisted the small ring on my index finger around, refusing to make eye contact with him while I spilled out my life story. "It sounds like your average American teenager story, but I guess my own personal twist is that I was raised in a family of werewolf hunters." I chuckled humorlessly as I shrugged.

"I spent a lot of time with my aunt." I frowned. "The crazy murderer." I smirked and shook my head. "And somehow she got me to think like her."

The summer before my sophomore year, I'd spent every waking moment with Kate. She would teach me everything she knew about being a hunter and I would practice for hours. It was the first and only time in my life I ever showed any interest in hunting and my parents never knew about it. Kate and I made a mutual decision to hide the training from them. We told them that we were working out together so that I could get physically fit and join the cheerleading squad. We moved before tryouts so I never actually had to join the squad, thankfully.

"The only thing she didn't pass on, however, is the ability to not feel any guilt." I stared harshly down at mine and Jackson's feet. "I didn't feel guilty over killing werewolves, in my mind they were monsters. No, it was the family, the friends. It was the people who spent hours, days, months, and years searching all over the world for their loved one. The same person that I had put a bullet in." I uncrossed my ankles and then crossed them again a few moments later. "That kind of guilt on top of not having anyone to talk about it with, it gets to a person."

Jackson attempted to move forward, as if he were going to comfort me, but was forced to stop when the handcuffs caught. He frowned down at them and then looked over to me, trying to show his comfort with only his eyes.

"One night, I decided I couldn't take it anymore." I took a deep breath, the only people to have ever known about this were my aunt and Allison and I'd never planned on telling anyone else. "I took a bunch of my mom's pain medication from a surgery and swallowed them down with a bottle of my dad's scotch. The next thing I knew I was in the hospital with my aunt and Allison leaning over me, telling me that I was lucky to be alive."

They didn't understand that I didn't want to be alive. I wanted nothing more than to be dead. I didn't have to say that for Jackson to understand. He'd known where the story was going from the very beginning. We spent a few short moments in tense silence before there was a knock on the door. It opened a few moments later and Allison gazed in at me.

"I'm back." she smiled at me and then her eyes flickered over to Jackson. He hadn't turned to look at Allison like I had; instead he was staring holes into the side of my head. "I'll, just-uh go to the car." She nodded and then closed the door back.

I looked back over to Jackson and smiled timidly, "I just thought you should know that you're not nearly as alone as you think you are." I shrugged and then stood.

Before I could step away, however, Jackson reached his hand forward to touch mine. I turned and looked down at him with a confused smile. He didn't say anything, only stared back at me, but I knew exactly what he was trying to say. I nodded back to him and then stepped out of the van.

I walked over to Allison's car and knocked on the window. She rolled it down while Scott leaned over the console.

"I'm going home." I told them. They nodded to me and then turned back to their conversation.

I climbed into the car and buckled up. I took a deep breath and pressed my face into the steering wheel. I sat up again a few moments later and jumped in surprise when I saw a figure sitting in the passenger seat. I frowned in confusion, however, when I recognized the figure as my aunt.

"Surprised?" Kate asked with a smirk. "Don't worry, I'm still dead. I'm just a figment of your twisted imagination." She explained with a shrug.

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair. She'd said it herself, she wasn't real. I started the car and drove from the preserve and back towards the house.

"Even though I'm totally not real or whatever, it would still be kind of nice if you talked." I glanced over only briefly to see that Kate had her body angled towards me in the seat. "I mean it has been a while, Emma."

"Why should I talk to you?" I asked as I looked both ways and then pulled out onto the actual street, I clicked the headlights on and tapped my fingers anxiously against the wheel, hoping that maybe she'd disappear soon.

"Because I'm your aunt and the only person who understands you." I raised an eyebrow. "You know it's true, we're the same, Emma. Sooner or later you're going to be just like me."

I rolled my eyes and parked the car. I got out and walked into the house, Kate followed closely behind me, but didn't speak as we climbed the stairs and then walked into my room. I closed the door behind me and wasn't nearly as surprised as I had been the first time when I saw Isaac lounging casually on my bed. I sighed and locked the door behind me, checking to make sure that he'd closed the curtains when he came in.

"Apparently we're the same in more ways than one." Kate smirked. "You know, I dated a werewolf once too." She circled around the room and stared at Isaac. "Of course, I only did it so that I could kill his family."

Isaac stared at me as my eyes followed Kate around the room. I frowned and shook my head and then stepped forward and into the werewolf's waiting arms. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him while I buried my face in his neck.

"You smell like Jackson." He muttered almost silently. I pulled back a little and smiled sheepishly at him. He only frowned in response. "Why do you smell like a homicidal lizard?" he asked.

"We were talking." I shrugged. "I was trying to help convince him that he's the kanima so that he can get help." I sat back on my bed and crossed my legs under me. "He's important to me, Isaac. I don't want him to die." I spoke down to my hands, not wanting to see the look in his eyes when I told him that.

"Being around you is probably the last thing he should be doing then, don't you think?" I glanced up with a confused frown. "Your entire family is trying to kill him." He explained.

"My entire family is trying to kill you and you're here." I replied.

He shrugged as he scooted closer to me and placed a hand on my leg, "Yeah, well I'm different." He responded smugly as he leaned in to me.

I rolled my eyes and kissed him back when his lips attached to mine. I reached forward and locked my hands behind his neck, playing with the curls on the back of his head. I pushed my body closer to his, forcing him back against the headboard.

"This is disturbing." I pulled away from him quickly. Isaac raised an eyebrow in confusion, but moved to kiss my neck while I stared in surprise at my aunt. Kate was leaning against the window frame with her arms crossed. "I never thought I'd have to watch my niece make out with a boy, let alone a werewolf." She shook her head.

Isaac sucked on my neck. I forced back a moan and turned back to run my hand through his hair while he gently pushed me onto my back. I fell back onto the bed and opened my legs just far enough so that he could settle in between them. Isaac trailed his kisses back up to my mouth and began exploring it with my tongue, while I tried to ignore my aunt's stare.

"What would Max think?" she asked with a shake of her head. "What about Gemma?" Kate asked as she glanced at a picture of me and my parents in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on my dresser.

I closed my eyes tightly, forcing her away as I turned my attention fully back to the boy that was literally on top of me. I hooked one of my legs around his hips and spun quickly. Our lips were separated and Isaac chuckled quietly before attaching them again. His hands roamed up on my sides and forced the thin shirt I was wearing up a little. I shivered as his large hands made contact with my skin.

I froze when I felt a vibration coming from beneath me. I pulled away from Isaac with a curious look as he reached down into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He let out a groan when he read whatever was on the screen and looked up at me apologetically.

"Derek awaits." I said as I climbed off of him and leaned against the headboard. Isaac stood up from the bed and leaned over me.

"I wish I didn't have to go, but he's annoyed with me." I nodded as he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss onto my lips. "I'll see you later." he told me.

"Bye." I watched as he climbed out of the window and ran away from the house quickly. I stood and closed the window behind him and then leaned against the frame, taking a deep breath.

"Emma." I turned, expecting to see Kate staring at me from the across the room, but I saw no one. It took only a moment for me to realize that the person saying my name was outside of the room.

I stepped over to the door and unlocked it. I pulled it open to see Allison on the other side. She nodded with her head towards her room and then stepped back. I followed her closely into her room and closed the door behind me.

I leaned against the wall and watched Allison closely as she walked over to the desk and turned on her lamp. We both jumped in surprise when we saw Lydia sitting on her head. I shook my head and walked over to sit next to the strawberry blonde.

"You scared the hell out of me." Allison told her as she turned from the lamp.

"I've been sitting here for an hour waiting for you." Lydia told us. I didn't know if Allison could detect the slight vulnerability in our friend's voice, but I certainly could. I scooted closer to her and made to ask her what was wrong, but was interrupted by my cousin.

"We can't hang out right now, Lydia." Allison gestured towards me. I frowned in confusion.

"I don't need anyone to hang out with." Lydia replied. I glanced towards her and noticed for the first time that she was in a slightly low key outfit compared to all of the other times I saw her. "I need someone to talk to." She aimed that towards me.

"I understand that it's important, but if it can just wait." I turned to frown at Allison, clearly I was the only one really concerned with Lydia's well being.

"Why is everyone telling me to wait?" Lydia asked as she stood up. "Why can't anyone have right now available?" she crossed her arms.

"You can't have everything right now." Allison replied. "You know what I need?" she asked as she took off her scarf. "I need someone to translate five pages of archaic Latin. Obviously that's not gonna happen anytime soon." She told her, clearly frustrated.

I groaned and fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I know archaic Latin." Lydia shrugged. I sat up.

"You know archaic Latin?" I asked.

"I got bored with classical Latin." She replied as if it were no big deal.

Allison and I made eye contact; I shrugged and then fell back onto the bed again.

"Just how smart are you?" Allie asked.

"Just show me the pages." Lydia replied, holding out her hand.

As soon as Allison got out the Bestiary, I spaced out. It's not that I didn't want to know all about Jackson's situation, but I had more pressing 'my dead aunt has been following me around all night' issues. I only caught part of the conversation where Lydia corrected something Ms. Morrell had gotten wrong. I wasn't surprised; she was a French teacher for a reason.

"Emma." I jumped and turned to see Allison staring at me. I raised an eyebrow. She grabbed my arm gently and pulled me over to the computer. "Someone's not protecting him." She whispered. "Someone's controlling him."

I frowned in confusion and then everything clicked in my head. If someone were controlling Jackson that meant that he wasn't really a murderer after all, he was being forced into killing the people.

"Then that means that the people that are dying are people that the master is choosing." I told her. "Meaning we're going to have to find a whole new person."

Allison left the room to call Scott and Stiles while I was forced into distract Lydia time. The two of us sat in silence for the first few moments before she brought up the topic of boys. I frowned in confusion and asked for her to elaborate.

"Well, you don't have a boyfriend." She stated. I shook my head. Lydia spent a few minutes thinking and then nodded. "I'm going to help you get one."

Oh joy. Not only is my dead aunt stalking me, but I have a werewolf sort of boyfriend that I'm hiding from everyone, and my only female friend is trying to set me up. My life just got even more difficult.


End file.
